TFP: Dysfunctional Team
by Epicenter Six
Summary: In a Dysfunctional team, the squad usually hate each. Unfortunately for 8 Decepticons, they are gonna have to work together to survive this adventure including deadly creatures, other alien races, and a dangerous Cybertronian third party. Pilot done. Season 1 started.
1. Pilot: Transmission pt 1

**AN: edited this chapter a bit and got rid of some of the errors.**

Cybertron is a dead place. It was once a shiny, technological world made entirely out of metal. All there was tall buildings, vast metallic plains areas ranging form tall mountains to deep chasms. The cities were once filled with a race called Cybertronians, huge robots of varying shapes, sizes and colors. It was a very lively place, but unfortunately there was much resent between two groups, the Autobots and the Decepticons.

War happen between them and left the planet in its current form. There was no longer a civilization, just a dead planet. Walking around the place, it would be very easy to find dead bodies strewn about. Most of the resources were long gone from the war and it's core was poisoned with dark energon. Because of this, most people consider it without value and have move on to other planets to either colonize or continue the war.

Swindle was not most people.

Swindle was an average-sized bot but was quite stocky. He had a tan and purple paint job with his arms and leg being tan and his chest being mostly tan with a thick purple stripe running down the center. His helm, hands, and pedes were colored a plain black and his optics were a dark purple.

Swindle considered himself an entrepreneur, a bot just trying to make a good living. To everyone else, he's probably the most dangerous and charismatic arms dealer you've ever met. He was born with a silver tongue and he knows how to use it, convincing bots that the thing he's trying to sell them was worth the hefty price and he usually accomplishes this. Sometimes, however, there are bots who think it would be easier to just kill him and take his stuff. That usually ends up being the last thing they do, as Swindle has one of the deadliest arsenals on him ranging from small blasters to high-grade explosives powerful enough to destroy a small army.

Swindle was consider a Decepticon, but that didn't mean he sell exclusively to them. He has a extensive travel history and has deal with many races form the incredibly dangerous Vok of Nexus Zero to the small, weak, and technologically archaic (to Cybertronians) humans of planet Earth and even to the Autobots, but always for a more hefty price. He has established contacts with many planets, making rather deep information network which he able to sell to potential buyers who wish to gain an edge above others or want to know the weaknesses of their enemies.

Right now, he was in his ship cruising above the ground and flying around buildings. He has become adept at flying his ship over the vorns, due to the fact that getting the stuff he was going to sell require him sometimes to steal and get out of there quickly. He didn't pay attention to what city he was in, but if he had to guest, it was probably the Autobot capital city, Iacon. There were many Autobot symbols and he passed what looked the Hall of Records. From what he could see in the darkness, most of the city was heavily damaged in some way, but were still standing.

Swindle came here to scavenge for supplies to sell to buyers and to keep for himself, if he liked it well enough. Most of the population was gone, but that didn't mean there weren't any secrets there. He had found a few secrets here while exploring, usually in the form if a secret lab or a forgotten weapons cache. Some of it was real good while others were better left to rust where they were.

Swindle kept a eye out for anything that could be worthwhile. He was running figures into his mental processors while doing so, adding up how much his latest find would earn him. The blueprint for a advance prototype medical capacitor design to greatly increase a Cybertronian internal self-repairing abilities would be very valuable, but there was a couple of strings attach to it. First off, it was a prototype, which means it was only in the testing phases. This could mean that it could have unintentional side-effects or, worse, it could not work at all and if didn't work, there would be some very angry customers. Second, it hasn't even been built yet and looking at the components for it, there was a few that some bots couldn't get a hold of, thus limiting his potential client pool. Third, finally, it was of Autobot design. Some Cons were very paranoid and wouldn't buy something if a Bot so much as glance at it. On the other hand, it could also mean that some Autobots could want it and will pay for it at a bigger price than usual.

As he was calculating the potential price, he didn't hear the bot next to him yelling for his attention…

Until he got a slap in the back of the head.

"Ow! What the slag was that for?," Swindle ask in a angry tone. He look to the right of him to gaze at the offender, a thin and short bot. He had a black color scheme with orange stripes running down parts of his body. He'd also had on a special pair of headphones and a red visor. Killshot.

The black bot looked at him and told him simply "We're getting a transmission."

"From who?"

"I don't know. Why don't you answer and find out" he said in a sarcastic tone. Swindle look at his companion and then back to the radio. He noticed a blinking light indicating a transmission. He clicked on it and the screen turn on showing a single glowing red eye.

Shockwave. Scrap. What did he want?

"Oh, uh, hi Shockwave. How are you?" Swindle ask in a polite tone. Shockwave was the Decepticons main scientist and a dangerous one at that. He was also said to be one of the best interrogators for them as well, claiming that no one has not cracked under his techniques. Given his track record, and what Swindle has seen from him, that probably isn't too far off from the truth.

"Fine, Swindle" Oh, good. He remembered who Swindle was. Shockwave didn't get all his devices by himself. Sometimes, he requires a rare component to make a device work and Swindle was always happy to provide, for a reasonable price of course.

"So, what do you need?"

"A component. I'm sending the data to you right now.' Swindle saw the data on another screen. Looked like he wanted some chemical. A very expensive chemical that Swindle just so happen to have in stock.

"Good news, Shockwave. I have some right now in storage, but they cost quite a lot"

"Value doesn't matter right now. All that is important is that I get the chemical. It is imperative for an experiment. I'm sending my location to you now." The map beep showing Shockwave's location. Swindle looked at it.

"It'll take me about a solar cycle before I can reach you Shockwave. You're all the way on the other side of the planet."

"Alright."

"You're not getting lonely are you?" He asked in a teasing tone.

Shockwave stared at Swindle before answering "No." Not much of a conversationalist.

"Anybody coming to see you?"

"Starscream is coming to bring me some energon along with some prisoners to extract information from in a few cycles." By extract information, he meant fried their neural networks, as Swindle saw once with a meet with him. Wait. Did he just say...

"Did you just mention Starscream?"

"Affirmative."

"How long is he goanna be there."

"At the most, a joor. He will have departed by the time you get here."

"Good." Starscream was one of the few bots, Autobot or Decepticon, that he didn't want to meet with. "See you soon." He hit the button and cut the link between him and Shockwave before he could reply. He immediately set the location on his navigator and set his ship to autopilot. It should get them there without trouble. Swindle set back in his seat and wonder exactly what Shockwave needed the chemical for. Probably a side-project of his. From what he heard, he was working a space bridge as a primary goal and from what Swindle knew, the chemical wasn't use in space bridge technology.

Suddenly, Killshot spoke up. "So, we're going to see the mad scientist?"

"I guess so," Swindle replied back.

"I heard horror stories about the kind of stuff Shockwave does. A lot of those stories don't end well for anybody not name Shockwave. They say he some emotionless torture machine and a brilliant scientist. Is that true?"

"In a way, yes, but he's a lot more complicated than that."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. He's also a really valuable customer." They sat there in silence for a few cycles till Killshot open his mouth again.

"Got a question. Why were you so nervous at the mention of Starscream?"

Swindle looked at him for a moment before replying in a serious tone, "Me and him don't exactly get along."

"Don't blame you for that. I had to work with him before. He's brilliant and a pretty good tactician when he tries, but his personality really has a way of ticking you off, whether it's his constant scheming, tactical errors that a protoform could pick out, or just his gloating in general. You know, I'm surprised Megatron hasn't killed him yet."

"Yeah. Anyway, we should head to the recharge berth. Tomorrow is going to be a easy day."

"I guess so." With that, the two left the pilot's seat and head to the respected rooms for the night.

Unfortunately for them, tomorrow was really going to be a busy day.

**Author's note: My first story for Fanfiction and I'm really nervous. I think I messed up Shockwave speech pattern, but it's hard finding complex words for him to say. Would really love some constructive criticism.**


	2. Pilot: Transmission pt 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.**

**AN: Here are some time for you all in case you're confuse.**

**Cycle = 1 minute**

**Joor = 6 hours**

**Stellar Cycle = 1 year**

**Vorn = 85 years**

Killshot online to the light of his room. He really hated getting up, but a job a job. He got up rather slowly, making sure none of his gears and wires were acting up. Nothing wrong there. He was on his pedes and went to get his gear: a red visor and headphones. Killshot was a renowned snipers for the Decepticons and the gear was part of the reason why.

The visor had many jobs, the primary one being to help him spot targets that blend in a environment or a crowd. It automatically identifies and scans them for weak points, usually the helm and the spark chamber. Another important feature was the map it could provide from scanning a area and keep it permanently in its memory banks in cause he comes back. It's very useful if you're trying to backtrack a long way. It was like a computer in miniature form.

The headphones are there more for his hobby than its ability to help. Killshot is a bit of an audiophile, usually listening to the music of other cultures. He is very interested in other races music and the headphones bring it out in pristine quality. He obtains the music by uploading them or recording them to his memory banks and plays the music through the headphones with a wireless transceiver to his memory banks, being able to turn it on or off at his own will just by thinking about it.

It's also really good at blocking out the screams somebot makes when they die.

He headed out of the room and to the bridge. He had to admit that Swindle had a very impressive ship. It was a much smaller ship compared to others like the Nemesis or Harbinger, but still a pretty dang good ship having its own bridge and med-bay, not that they get use much; having a crew of only two really limits how much you use something. It also doesn't help that neither of them were medics. They only knew the basics, which was enough for small wounds, but not big ones.

The technology was also something to be commended. The machines were very user-friendly and had some extremely fast processors. It had some of the latest tech on it as well from other races; Cybertronians don't like to say it, but some races can make stuff better than them. The best example would be the blasters on the front of the ship. The best Cybertronian blasters are more than capable of making big holes in small ships. The average Vok blasters, on the other hand, take their destructiveness to obscene levels, easily capable of blowing the whole fragging ship and then some.

He walked to the door that holds the bridge, listening to his music and not caring about much else. It was a rather undeveloped planet's tribal music, mostly just yelling and banging on some percussion instruments. He was making some rather uncivilized noise and saying unusual that would probably dumb down the intelligence of anyone nearby. Getting recordings from that planet to add to his collection was difficult, considering that the technological thing the planet was capable of was making a fire and would immediately wonder "WHAT THE FRAG IS THAT" or whatever it is in their primitive language, but it was worth it to him.

Other people like Swindle, not so much. Music isn't a market he can put in a stranglehold.

The door opened automatically leading him into the well-lit blue room. There were many screens in the room and a rather large table with a sort of projector in the middle, although he wasn't paying much attention to them. Only enough to track where he's going, what he could run into, and figure out that Swindle was not in the room. He was making his way to another door haphazardly, looking like that at any moment, he would trip and fall flat on his face. Fortunately for him, that didn't happen and he make it safely to the door: the energon storage room.

He entered the room, took a sizable cube of energon, and popping a seat at the table in front of the door that led to the door which he used to enter the room with his back to it. It was going to be an easy day for him. Shockwave was not known to back stab people like certain seekers and as such, Swindle should be able to take care of it himself. He could just sit here, relax (or go crazy), and listen to his music for the whole solar-cycle.

Unless something happens, of course.

But that was something to worry about later. He just sat back, enjoying the music, and slowly taking in the energon. Yep. Moments like this were the best. Being the bodyguard to an arms dealer was an easy job with some nice benefits, such as free energon and a place to stay. He also got a decent discount at Swindle's wares. Not enough to really damage Swindle's bottom line, just enough to make a sizable difference to Killshot and a good profit for Swindle.

Swindle didn't exactly needed a bodyguard in close corners melee and mid-range shoot outs, as Killshot has seen a few times during deals gone badly. It was the far away and hidden personal that Swindle needed help with. His guns were nice and easily capable of taking down targets at close-to-mid range and in melee combat, he had short, but sharp blades that pop from his wrists that he could use to easily cut up targets. However, once he was quite a bit away, those weapons wouldn't be able to hit accurately and reliably.

That was where Killshot come in. He would stay back and use his visors to figure out if there were any hidden snipers or guards too far away for Swindle to hit. Once found, he would translate those speakers with his headset to Swindle a much needed idea of what to use for cover if things go downhill. Luckily, most deals went fine and the ones that don't were not smart enough to use tactics, thinking he was alone. It was always a fun sight to see the arrogant smirk of a bot get erased from his face when they were hit.

The music was reaching a climax now; all the voices were screaming and the drums were just getting beat harder and harder. He was caught up in it and just slowly became more entrance with it, shaking his form to the music in the chair. It was so loud and intense that he didn't hear the door behind him open in a smooth whirr.

Swindle slowly walk in to see his bodyguard shaking in his chair like he was losing a few gears in his heads and saying some things in what sounded like gibberish. He contemplated on what to do: either a) let him keep on shaking and completely ignore him or b) snap him out of his hallucination and bring him back to the real world and get some payback for last solar cycle.

It was a very easy decision. He got behind him quietly and positions his hand near his spastically moving head. He had to time this right to get full impact and a more powerful blow. Killshot still didn't sense him, just happily moving along.

Suddenly, Swindle brought his hand up and brought it down to strike him.

"OW! SON OF A GLITCH! THAT HURT!"

Perfect hit.

Killshot's headphones were off form the hit, along with his visor, and his servos were holding his head. He was rocking himself back and forth, not noticing the smirk on Swindle's face. He was very pleased at the moment. He walked away from him and head to the energon storage room to get himself a block and then headed to the computer to see how much father they were from Shockwave's location.

Only 20 cycles. Good. He headed to a large screen in the room and tried to contact Shockwave. During that, Killshot slowly reach for his headphones examine them. The hit hit him with enough force to slam his face in to the table knocking the visor off his face showing his red eyes. At the moment, he was really pissed. Here he was, relaxing, with nothing to do and his employer just comes out of nowhere to hit him in the back of the head and maybe harming his gear in the progress.

The headphones looked fine, and it was still playing the music, so it was probably undamaged. He pauses the music and put the headphones around his neck. He then grabs his visor and check it. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it and he put it back on his head, covering his eyes. He then looked at the physically abusing employer and ask him a simple question in a rather menacing tone, "What the scrap was that for?"

Swindle replied in the salesman voice of his "That was for yesterday's slap to the back of the head."

"Mine wasn't nearly that hard," Killshot argued.

"It was also for what you did a stellar cycle ago, remember."

"You still remember that. Come on, it was just harmless fun."

"I hardly called nearly blowing up a part of the ship fun. That, and do you know how much money that would cost to repair the ship. Now, shut up or I will deduct you pay. It would be more money for me to keep, anyway." It was days like this that made you wish you still had your old squad who do what you ask for free.

Killshot looked at him and turned away, preferring to look at the screen, although Swindle swore he heard him said "slagger" in a low voice. That was the end of that conversation and Swindle was still not getting anything from Shockwave. It was mildly worrying to Swindle. Shockwave was always quick to answer a transmission, even if he was in recharge. What the slag could be keeping him.

Killshot was slowly relaxing again. He sat back in his chair again and put his pedes on the table. He paid attention to what Swindle was doing. It looked he was trying to contact Shockwave and judging by the look on his face, he was nervous for some reason. Why?

"Hey, slag head. What are you so worried about? Is there a life threatening situation ahead I want to know about?"

"Shockwave is not answering."

"So?"

"He always answers in less than a cycle."

"He could be slow today."

"No, he always answers quickly. It could be Megatron, and the last thing you want to do would be to tick Megatron off."

"So you're saying something happen to Shockwave because he's not answering fast enough" he asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yep."

"Yeah, right." Killshot obviously didn't believe him.

"I'm being serious here."

"Sure. Now tell me, how long have you been stalking Shockwave. Is it some heated love affair or-

"SHUT UP!" Killshot probably pressed his buttons too much. He was clutching his head, holding back the migraine he was having. He was seriously considering killing him right there and be done with him, but considering he needed the back-up, it was best to let him live, for now.

Killshot consider what to do next. Either shut up or try to soothe him. He was actually worried about him. Swindle acted like what he was saying was the complete the truth and not completely insane. Shockwave could easily just be in the middle of one of his sadistic experiments. Still, the amount of conviction in Swindle voice made actually believe him, even if he probably was a nightmare fetishist with a tendency to stalk. He finally came up with a decision to humor him and ask would could've happen.

"So," Killshot began "if Shockwave really is in trouble, what do you think could've happen?" Maybe making him think of what could've happen might help.

"I'm thinking of two options, both of them not good. The first is that Starscream, for some reason, tried to kill him and might've succeeded.

"Why would Starscream tried to murder Shockwave?"

"I don't know. He just has a tendency to be involved in stuff like this."

"Well you got a point there." Starscream always had an agenda to get ahead, even if it mean stepping on the backs of his allies. The question is what his agenda consist of and how did it play into his hand. "What's the other option?"

"Shockwave mentioned that Starscream had Autobot prisoners. I'm thinking that they might've escape and attack them."

"How could they escape?" Killshot asked in a interested tone. He had to admit, Swindle coming up with reasons why Shockwave was not answering a transmission was pretty humorous.

"It's Starscream," Swindle pointed out in a tone that sounded like the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ah, good point." This wouldn't be the first time Starscream accidentally let prisoners escape and he doubt he let them purposely escape. Starscream may be a backstabbing egomaniac, but he was completely dedicated to the Decepticon caused, even if he didn't always show. He just simply wants to be the leader and have complete power (which, let's be honest here, he'll probably never accomplished).

Swindle looked at the screen. Ten cycles till they reached the destination. Not fast enough. "I'm going take the ship off autopilot and speed us up." The autopilot had its own predetermined speed, which happens to be really slow compared to what the ship is capable of doing on manual. He keeps this pace so that every bot on board can have a nice, relaxing ride instead of a fast, not-so-relaxing one and it also saves them fuel.

Swindle took control away from the autopilot and begin increasing the speed. Killshot felt the ship speed up rather quickly. Obviously, this was going to be a shorter trip now. He measured by how fast it was speeding up that it would probably take them roughly 2 cycles to reach now.

Looks like today isn't going to be a relaxing day.


	3. Pilot: Transmission pt 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own transformers, just Killshot. This is saddening.**

Swindle was landing the ship at a piece of land a short distance from where the building Shockwave was supposed to be. Swindle slowly decrease the speed gently, not wanting to land hard and risk damaging something. There might also be some idiots under the ship that might not realize a ship was about to land on them, but according to Swindle sensors, there was no one under him.

In fact, the sensors say that no one was around the whole area, which strike Swindle as very odd. You would think that there would be at least a single guard to alert Shockwave if there was an incoming ship. Especially if that ship happen to be an Autobot ship. It just led to Swindle thinking more and more that Shockwave was hurt or worse and his deal was about to go sour.

The ship landed with a solid thud. Swindle put the ship in power-saving mode instead of turning it off. They might need a quick getaway if things end badly and the power-saving mode would keep everything ready to go if they have to.

Swindle got up from the cockpit and walked to the door that led to the bridge. The door opened leading him to the room with Killshot in it. Killshot looked ready to go. He had all of his gear and his weapon of choice, a Null Ray sniper rifle, on his back. Killshot has upgraded his sniper over the stellar cycles making it hit harder, hold more ammo, and be more stable.

"Ready to go?" Killshot asked.

"Yeah, I just need to get the chemical. Go on ahead outside. I'll be with you shortly." Swindle replied.

Killshot follow that order quickly, heading to the exit. He reached the door and pressed a button. The door open and a ramp extended down to the ground. He walked down the ramp and looked around the area.

Cybertron was definitely not a pretty place to look at. The Sun was setting and putting a rather dreary mood to the place. The buildings around him were in a state of decay and one looked like a tap would bring the whole structure down. If one looks closely, you might find a limb sticking out of the rubble…

It was not a happy place to look at.

Killshot looked around for a place to sit, preferably away from the limb. He saw a barrel that looked like it might hold his weight and was a good distance away from the limb. He set his aft down and waited for Swindle to appear.

He wonder why would someone want to hang around this sinkhole. It didn't hold many high spots like in Iacon. Most of the buildings were pretty low, only about 4 stories high at the most. For a sniper like him, it was adequate, but not good. For soldiers and commandos, this was a haven, but for him, this sucked.

He went back to looking at the rusted limb. It looked it was red at one point. He saw servos at the end, so it probably belongs to an arm. The servos looked like they were sharp talons at one points, but now were dull blades. More than likely, he was in a battle with somebody a long time ago and lost it.

Suddenly, he heard Swindle feet walking down the ramp. He turned to see Swindle come down with nothing in his hand. Probably subspace the chemical in his chest. Killshot didn't know how, but Swindle can store a lot of stuff in his chest department. He ask about it before, but didn't get a answer from him, claiming that it was a secret.

"So," Killshot started, "you're ready to go?"

"Yep," Swindle replied back quickly. "We need to head this way to reach it. It shouldn't take more than a couple of cycles to reach it." Swindle pointed in the Northeast direction, away from the rubble with the arm. He walked off in a quick pace. Killshot got off the barrel and walk towards the same direction in a similar.

On the way there, Killshot decided to start up a conversation. "So, you've ever met Shockwave before?"

"Nope, the most we talked was through transmissions."

"Then how do you conduct deals with Shockwave?"

"He sends me coordinates to different planets and sends a few drones there to meet me. It's a pretty simple set up."

"Ever worry he might betray you?"

"Nope. He's not Starscream. He doesn't plan your downfall every deca-cycle. Besides, I'm too valuable for him. He needs the resources I'd provide to continue his experiments." Swindle decided to asked some questions next. "So tell me, which city are you from?"

"I'm from Telos," Killshot replied.

"The city with all the skyscrapers?"

"Yep. It was a decent place before the war."

"It's also a breeding ground for assassins." Telos was notorious for the amount of major assassins that spring up from there.

"Well, not our fault that it's a perfect place to snipe."

"Yeah, right. We're coming up on Shockwave's location." Swindle said. He proved to be correct as they came to Shockwave's building. It was a pretty big building, probably as big as the Nemesis and that was just on the outside. A lot of the buildings have underground areas to make the buildings more expansive. It looked sturdy, considering it looked a lot better than some of the others and was probably easy to defend.

The door was also open.

Swindle looked at the opened entrance. In a place like this, no one would leave there door opened unless they were in a hurry getting out of the building. Question is, why were they in a hurry to leave?

Swindle slowly approach the entranceway, looking to make sure there was no surprises in store for them. He looked inside to see a plain room. There was absolutely nothing distinguishing it to its owner. Only thing worth noting were the signs, which in two directions: laboratory and interrogation room.

Killshot was apprehensive. He was starting to see why Swindle was worry. He expected at least some drones to meet them here, but no one was here. Something was wrong.

He decided to break the tense silence. "So, where do we go?"

Swindle look around, trying to figure out which way to go. "I say he's probably in the lab. That's where he probably spends most of the time anyway. This way." Swindle headed in the left direction with Killshot slowly behind him.

They walked slowly down the hall, each with their weapons out. Swindle had a large blaster attached to his forearm while Killshot simply had his hands shift into blasters. They walked down the halls until they came to a stairway leading underground.

"Well, this is gonna suck," Killshot stated.

"No kidding. Come on." They went down the stairway to a blue-tinted hallway. They walked down it with some hesitation. They already came down this far, might as well keep going. They walked in silence, keeping their footsteps quiet. There were some spaces in the wall that look like it might hold something big like a statue.

They kept walking until Killshot noticed something in one of the spaces of the wall. "Hey, Swindle. Look." He pointed to the spaced. Swindle didn't see anything at first, because was dark, but then he noticed something.

A body. Specifically, the body of a drone. Definitely not good.

The two look at each other and kept going. It looked it open up at the end. The two walk to the opening into a huge room. There wasn't much space to walk around due to a huge chasm in the middle if the room, but it was still big. There were metallic bridges to help bots move around the place and a console near the back of the room. It would be a impressive sight if it wasn't for the signs of battle.

One side of the room was cave in with blocks dominating that side of the room. There were scorch marks across the room, indicating gunfire. On one of the bridges were the bodies of a couple of vehicons, definitely dead. Near the back of the room, seem to be a lot of rubble, like a explosion went off.

The two of them walk around the room carefully. The ones who caused this much destruction could still be around. They look around the room until they reach the back of the room.

They both subspace there weaponry, looking around the area. It seemed like whoever caused this much damage seemed to have left already. Swindle was on the console, seeing what was going on here. Killshot was poking around the rubble, seeing if there was anything there worth anything.

Swindle was accessing the console's databanks. There seem to be a lot of notes here for Shockwave's experiments and on other things. The oddest thing to Swindle was a file under beast, which contains all kinds of mechanical animals on the, the most fearsome looking being a dragon-type thing. It was a very informative databank.

It was also very expensive data. Shockwave probably wasn't using it anytime soon, considering he's probably dead.. He downloaded the databanks to his memory banks. At least something good came out of this.

Suddenly, Killshot shouted to him. "Hey, Swindle! I found Shockwave!" What. Swindle hurried over to Killshot position, behind a large pile of rubble. What he found was not comforting.

Shockwave's eye was cracked. Looked like a powerful blaster hit him there. That was going to be hard to fix. He also had a lot of scorch marks all over his body, like he was caught in the middle of an explosion. The amazing thing was that Shockwave actually didn't look too bad. It looked like everything was still in place. No serious injuries were present, at least on the outside and judging from the scanners, his spark was still bright.

"So what do we do with him," Killshot ask. Swindle thought this over. They could just leave him here to tend to himself and act like they weren't here. Shockwave's data was very valuable and could be a major score for Swindle.

On the other hand, Shockwave knew they were coming, and would probably be pretty mad to figure that they left him here. He might even report to Megatron, if he could get there in his currant shape. Also, leaving someone behind who was potentially critically injured was just not something Swindle does if that person has done nothing wrong to him and last he check, Shockwave was a hasn't screw him over yet.

Finally, he came to a decision. "We're gonna drag him back to the ship and see if we can help him." Killshot looked at him as he said that and than looked back at Shockwave.

"That's going to be a bit hard," Killshot replied. And it was true; Shockwave was a big Cybertronian, easily getting up to Megatron's height and build.

"Deal with it," Swindle replied back. He went one side of Shockwave side and grab his arms. Killshot looked at him with a annoyed looked, but nonetheless, went to Shockwave's legs and grab them. They lifted him up slowly, seeing if they could hold him.

So far, so good.

The two slowly walked around the rubble in which they found Shockwave. They were already feeling the weight of Shockwave on them. They walked slowly and steadily until they came to the corner to turn out and back into the larger part of the room. They both walked around the spot…

Into two seekers with their blasters aimed at them.

Scrap.


	4. Pilot: Angle of Perception pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. *sign***

**30 cycles earlier…**

Thundercracker was not an easy individual to irritate. He's generally one of the calmer cons, able to keep his cool in tough situations. He's faced many challenges in his long life and has past most of them with flying colors.

Being around Skywarp was a life-long challenge that he was currently losing.

Thundercracker looked at the bane of his existence right now. Skywarp was a con that showed a lot of promise, but really lacked the brains to use it. He wasn't dumb; he was just dumber than Thundercracker by a lot. And he talked way too much. And he was really immature. His pranks were horrible too. He mostly just pushes people down the stairs and barely puts effort into any other pranks.

You get it.

The two were currently heading to Shockwave's base to recover any data there they can use. According to Starscream, the Autobot prisoners, Cliffjumper and Arcee, escape while under Shockwave watch and escape through the ground bridge. Shockwave try to follow them, but was supposedly kill during a ground bridge explosion.

Yeah, there were a few things suspicious about that debrief, but they had nothing to proof him wrong. Megatron was pretty upset upon hearing of Shockwave's demise. Although nothing Starscream said in his report indicating any wrongdoing on his part (of course), Megatron still blame Starscream for the failure. Before either Thundercracker or Skywarp could watch what would happen, Megatron send them out to

They were glad to leave too, because Megatron looked pissed. Starscream was so screwed whether he was responsible for anything or not.

According to Megatron, they were to head to Shockwave's base to see if they could obtain any data from Shockwave's personal logs and proved that Starscream story was true. They rest of the ship were heading to Earth to hunt down the Autobots. The two seekers were to give the information they found to Megatron by heading to the nearby planet, Dabola, where a Decepticon base was located led by the former Combaticon leader, Onslaught and he would give the information to Megatron through a transmission.

They were only about a cycle now from the base using their alternate jet forms. Unfortunately for Thundercracker, Skywarp decided to talk the whole time. It was starting to get unbearable. Thank Primus they were close to the base.

"Hey, TC, are we there yet?" Skywarp asked. This wasn't the first time he asked this.

"We're almost there. We'll be there in about half a cycle." With that answer, he relaxed and tried to enjoy the rest of the ride while ignoring everything Skywarp said.

Thundercracker and Skywarp looked a lot like Starscream, sharing his body type and being trinemates. The main differences were there colors. While Starscream was white, Thundercracker was dark blue and Skywarp was dark purple. Together, they were the main elite trine of the army, shown as an example to other trines.

When it comes to loyalty to the Decepticon cause, however, Thundercracker was probably one of the least loyal. It wasn't that he didn't support the cause; he agree with it 100%. He just didn't approve of the methods. He was more of a supporter of a peaceful solution, although he won't say this out loud for fear of it being heard by Megatron.

Skywarp, however, agree with the methods use. If you wanted loyalty, Skywarp was easily the most loyal of the three and is Megatron's favorite, even if he's dim-witted and immature. It also helps that Skywarp has the ability to teleport, something unique to him only and made some of the other Decepticons jealous.

They could see the base down. They lower there form down until they almost touched the ground and transformed back to the other form. They came upon the entrance, which was close at ther moment.

"We're here. Come on, I'll get the door," Thundercracker order. He walked ahead with Skywarp following behind at an even pace. They reached the door and Thundercracker hit the button to open the door. The door opened slowly, creaking very loudly as it went up. They went inside into the plain looking room and try to decide which way to go. "I say we head to the interrogation room," Thundercracker said.

"Why?" Skywarp asked.

"Because, according to Starscream's report, most of the computers are located in the interrogation room. Come on," Thundercracker said. With that, they head to the interrogation room, leaving the door opened. The hallways were dimly lit, but light enough to let them see where they were going.

Soon, they reached the interrogation room. The door opened automatically for them. Inside, they found a few operating tables, the computers, and some of Shockwave's personal torture tools.

Thundercracker immediately headed to computers and started looking for data. A lot of them were notes on interrogation techniques such as the perfect places to cause pain without killing the individual. One can only imagine how much practiced Shockwave had over the years to perfect his art form.

Skywarp, meanwhile, was looking at security files from earliest to latest. So far, most of what he found was disturbing videos of Shockwave performing torture techniques and boring lab tests. It seemed like Skywarp would find nothing of use until he hit the last video.

To summarize it, it was proof that _Starscream_ was the one to let the Autobot's escape instead of Shockwave. While Shockwave was out of the room, the Autobot, Cliffjumper, distracted Starscream while the other Autobot, Arcee, broke out and strap Starscream back onto the table in a wonderful form of irony.

He was so saving this.

With that taken care of, he might as well tell Thundercracker the news. "Hey, TC, I figure out how the Autobots escape."

"How?"

"Screamer let them escape by accident."

"Of course he did," Thundercracker murmur in a low tone. He really should have seen this coming. Starscream arrogance got the best of him, _again_. He continue to look through the data logs. Nothing there except more data on torture techniques.

Skywarp, meanwhile, was getting bored. He was starting to sing a song off-beat and off-tune. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and he learned over the years that the fastest way of getting out with Thundercracker was by annoying him to no end. And it was working.

Thundercracker tried desperately to concentrate on his work, but he was losing the battle. Skywarp was just the master at annoyance and could probably count himself as a torture technique. He could probably get an Autobot to give up everything about the Autobots if that mean being away from him forever.

Skywarp had a smile on his face as he kept singing. He knew Old Thunder was losing it and would want to get out very soon. After that, they can just go to Dabola and hang out there for a while.

It was all going according to plan until he noticed the security system was beeping. He distinctly remembered it not beeping before. He stop singing and went over to see why it was beeping.

Thundercracker, meanwhile, was very happy that he stop singing. Any longer and he probably would've cave in. He kept looking through the data, looking for something beside torture techniques. He had to be doing something besides torturing people here.

"Um, TC. We've got visitors," Skywarp said a little nervously.

"What?" Thundercracker asked in a disbelieving tone. There wasn't supposed to be anybody else on this mission. He quickly went over to the security logs to see what Skywarp was talking about.

"I can't see what faction they are, but I can definitely tell they're armed." Thundercracker looked at what Skywarp was seeing. The screen was very blurry, likely because Shockwave didn't see any use in restoring them, but he could tell that there were two visitors and he could see that at least one of them had a huge blaster on his forearms. He could also tell they were heading for the labs. "What do we do?"

Thundercracker thought this through for a moment, but not too long. "We head down to labs and see whether there Decepticons or not. If they're Decepticons, we asked them what the slag they're doing here. If not, we go in there, kill them, and report back to base about them," Thundercracker ordered.

Together the two left the interrogation room with the data they obtained and head for the labs quickly, but carefuly. They backtracked through the halls until they reached the opening room. Once there, they headed towards the labs at a slower and quieter rate. They kept going until they reached the stairs, in which Thundercracker 'politely' suggest that Skywarp headed first. Skywarp, quickly getting the hint that Thundercracker did not wanted to get push down the stairs today or waste time chasing after the visitors, headed down the steps without a fuss.

They walk through the hallways, trying to find any signs of the two visitors. So far, they founded nothing. They were nearing the opening to the labs. The two silently walked ahead to the opening.

Suddenly they heard unintelligible yelling. The two stop, wondering if they were heard when they were coming. Thundercracker slowly approach the opening and looked inside.

He saw no one.

He motion for Skywarp to follow him into the room. They both turned their hands into blasters. Unlike Starscream, they preferred to use their blasters. Together the two enter the room.

It was a mess. The two slowly look around the lab. It was obvious a battle took place here a while ago. They heard voices near a large pile of rubble. They slowly walked forward to the console at the backed of the room, unhindered. The closer they were getting, the louder the voices got. The two seekers got behind some rubble for cover and aimed their gun at the rubble. The two voices were currently sharing snappy comments, unaware they were walking into a trap.

Suddenly they came into view and saw the seekers.

They were carrying with them Shockwave.

Megatron was going to have a field day with Starscream when they got back to base.


	5. Pilot: Angle of Perception pt 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own the awesome Tranasformers. **

Swindle judged the situation he got himself in. Here he was holding Shockwave body with Starscream's trinemates pointing blasters at them. He and Killshot were unable to use there weapons because they were too busy carrying a really heavy Shockwave. They were caught in the open with no source of cover to use.

Obviously not very good.

Meanwhile, Thundercracker was judging the same situation. Here were both him and Skywarp in cover with their blaster's pointed straight at the intruders, the intruders were currently using their hands to carry Shockwave and wouldn't be using any weaponry against them, and Shockwave was either dead or injured.

Obviously very good, minus the Shockwave part.

Killshot stood there, carrying Shockwave, looking at the two seekers. He remembers them from somewhere, but couldn't quite figure where. All he knew was that at the moment, they were not friendly.

Skywarp just pointed his blaster at them, really wanting to shoot something.

The four figures just looked at each other. Swindle was trying to place a servo on who they were. They were seekers, that much was obvious. The colors were blue for the calm one and purple for the one that smiling, just waiting to shoot something. He also noticed that they looked awfully similar to Starscream, but, they wouldn't look like that unless they were his trinemates…

Oh, scrap

Thundercracker was taking a closer look at the two. They were both grounders, as he could tell by the absence of wings on both of them. The tan and purple one was looking at him, like he just recognized him. That could either be a good or bad thing. He looked closer and saw something he wanted to see.

A Decepticon symbol on his left arm.

That prove that they were friendly, but Thundercracker didn't put his blaster down yet. They were Decpticons, but that didn't mean they were friendly. He looked at the other Con. He was slightly smaller than the previous Con and was nowhere near as stocky. He had on a pair of visors of headphones. Thundercracker looked at him and the other Con, slowly figuring out who they were. He kept looking through his memory banks until he figured who they were.

Swindle and Killshot. Now why the slag were they here?

"So," Swindle decided to break the silence "how are you today, Thundercracker?" So he recognized him too. A looked of recognition was on Killshot's face too. Good. He could skip the introductions and straight to the answers.

"Tell us why you're here?" Thundercracker asked, ignoring Swindle's question. The two grounders looked at each other before Swindle answered.

"We came for a deal we made with Shockwave a solar cycle ago." There was no harm in telling the truth. It was just a deal.

"Is that all?" Thundercracker doubted that was the whole truth.

"Yes."

"What were you going to give him?"

"That's a secret between me and Shockwave," Swindle answered with one of his trusted smiles. Thundercracker looked at him with a disproving look before continuing on with the question.

"How did you get here?"

"With my ship."

"Did you find Shockwave like these?"

"Yes, we did." This time, it was Killshot who answered the question with a very irritated tone.

"Did you find anything of value here?" Thundercracker asked.

"No, we didn't." Swindle answered, his expression and tone not touching. He really didn't want Thundercracker to know about the information he found. That was some really valuable stuff.

Thundercracker slowly looked at the two grounders, before putting his weapon down and directing Skywarp to do the same. Skywarp looked at him with a disappointing looked and put away his weapon. He really wanted to shot something today.

Swindle and Killshot both uttered a sigh of relief and put Shockwave down. He was getting really heavy. The two were resting there arm in anticipation of carrying him again. It was unlikely that Thundercracker would order them to leave him behind.

Thundercracker looked at the two with a suspicious look. They may have proof that they were allies, but that didn't mean he didn't believe them. Specifically Swindle. He was know to say anything if it meant making a bigger profit and odds are, he found something here worth something and was not telling them.

But that wasn't his main concern. His main concern was Shockwave. "So," he asked, "What's wrong with Shockwave, besides the obvious?" The obvious being the messed up eye.

"We honestly don't know," Killshot answered. "He could be experiencing some internal damage and that's about all I could think of besides the eye. The scorch marks could indicate that some of his wiring could have gotten too hot and messed up." It wasn't uncommon to get injuries like this if you were working with flames.

Thundercracker looked at Shockwave than back at the other two. "So, you were just going to carry Shockwave back to the ship by yourself?" Thundercracker asked.

"Yeah, we were, but with you two here, we could make the job a lot easier," Killshot replied.

"Wait, are you suggesting we carry Shockwave all the way back to the ship? Because, if so, I'm not helping," Skywarp shine to them. Thundercracker was having none of that.

"Yes you are," Thundercracker said.

"But,"

"No buts. You're helping. Come grab a leg while I grab a arm." Thundercracker went and grab a arm. Skywarp looked at him with a disappointing look, but nonetheless grab a leg.

Swindle looked at them during the whole conversation and finally spoke again. "Hey, Skywarp. You can teleport right?" Swindle asked.

Skywarp, looked at him with a faced that say "are you serious?" and demonstrated it by teleporting behind Swindle and slapping him in the back of the head.

"OW! Alright, so you can. Good. Can you teleport more than one person."

"Yeah, I can, but only one other person. So what?"

"Don't you get it? You can teleport Shockwave there yourself," Swindle answered. Skywarp looked at Swindle now with a smile on is face. Thundercracker and Killshot looked at each other with a look that said "Why didn't I think of that?" and immediately faceplam. They were idiots.

"I can do that real easy. Just show me where the ship is I can teleport him there."

"Alright, follow me. You two, stay and make sure that nothing happens to Shockwave while we're gone." With that, Swindle and Skywarp left to go to the ship leaving Thundercracker and Killshot behind to talk.

The two looked at each other. Killshot was sitting down on a large piece of rock, looking at Thundercracker. Thundercracker was standing up with his arm cross, looking superior. The two just stare at each other until Killshot decided to break the silence. "So, what were you and Skywarp doing here?" They knew why he was here so it was only fair that he knew why they were here too.

Thundercracker judged whether or not he should say it. Knowing Skywarp, he's already being manipulated by Swindle to tell him exactly what's going on. It wouldn't surprise him. Thundercracker decided to tell Killshot. "We were sent by Megatron to see what happen to Shockwave."

"Well it looks obvious now. He's fine, if a bit injured."

"That's not what we were told by Starscream. According to him, Shockwave was killed in a space bridge explosion while chasing after the two escape Autobots."

"So that what that big pile of rubble is," he said, pointing to the giant pile of rubble.

"Correct."

"So, who were the two Autobots that escape?"

"Arcee and Cliffjumper."

"Arcee? I've seen her a few times. She has a fine aft on her," Killshot said, thinking about the blue femme. They've never fought each other, but Killshot had to admit that she looked fine and deadly, if her kill count is anything to go by. She was the second most fearful femme out there, losing only to Airachnid.

Killshot twitched involuntary. Airachnid was one scary and disturbing individual. Whether it was here creepy attitude or here extra arms (mostly the arms), he just found here disturbing on all levels. He would best describe her as ice on fire. Hot from a distance but cold to the touch.

Killshot really didn't want to think about her anymore and got back on topic. "So, how did they escape?"

Thundercracker looked at him stilled. He saw twitching for some odd reason during the brief silence and he wondered what it was, but nevertheless answered the question. "Strarscream say that Shockwave let escape dring his interrogation."

"But…"

"But, we've proven that Starscream was the one to let escape with a extra dose of irony to go along with it."

"Really?"

"It's what the video we found indicated." Thundercracker sigh. "Starscream really going to get it when we report back to Megatron."

"Probably," Killshot agree.

With that, they stay where they were in silence. Thundercracker thinking about what will happen to Starscream; Killshot thinking when this day will be over.


	6. Pilot: Angle of Perception pt 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers**

Swindle and Skywarp were outside the base now. Skywarp was very talkative today and Swindle was capitalizing on it, asking everything about their mission and always getting a answer. "So," Swindle was asking another question, "how do you and Thundercracker plan on telling Megatron, considering that he left you behind?"

"That's easy. We were just going to fly to a nearby planet called Dabola and get the leader to transmit the information to Megatron., but then we stumble onto you, Killshot, and Shockwave. So now, we're just going to take your ship. Nice and easy." Skywarp replied.

"Do you know who waiting for you at Dabola?" Swindle asked.

"I wasn't paying attention. Only thing I remember was the leader was someone named Onslaught." Skywarp replied.

"Onslaught?" Swindle asked in a different tone than before. This one more nervous than before.

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Yeah, I know him. We're friends, but it's been a long time since I'd seen him, though." Swindle replied.

"Why?" Skywarp asked.

"No reason," Swindle said a little too hastily, but Skywarp didn't notice. Swindle was glad he didn't notice that. What happen between them was between him, Onslaught, and the other Combaticons. He'd really said too much to Skywarp already.

They were coming up on the ship now. Night had set in now, making the place more dark and depressing than normal. The area was silent, save for the footsteps of the two cons. The two went up the ramp onto the ship. "So, do you just want me to drop Shockwave anywhere or do you want him in a specific spot," Skywarp asked.

"We're going to take him to the Med-bay. Come on. It's this way." Swindle led Skywarp to the room. The hallways were wide enough to easily let three bots walk side by side. The two kept walk for a little bit until Swindle stop at a door. He pressed a button, opening the door. Unlike most doors on the ship, you had a press a button to enter. If someone's performing surgery, the last thing he wants is uninvited guests.

The two entered the room. It was a big room, easily allowing about ten people in the room at one time, fifteen if you're being uncomfortable. There were three tables for patients and three movable trolleys with tools on them. The room was a cool blue color, like most of the ship.

Swindle moved to the closest table. "I want you teleport him here, understand?"

"Yep, be right back." Suddenly, a blue light engulfed Skywarp and he was gone in a flash. Swindle looked at where Skywarp was, surprise. He wasn't expecting him to leave so suddenly. Now Swindle had to wait.

Swindle looked around the room, while waiting for Skywarp. He was wondering if there was anything to replicate what Skywarp just did. The power of teleportation was dangerous power in the wrong hands and those hands usually paid a large amount for it. It could be a gold mind.

Suddenly, the blue light appeared again and Skywarp reappear along with Shockwave. Skywarp was a bit off though, landing a few meters away from the table. Swindle sigh and looked at Skywarp with a disappointing looked. "So, looked like that work just find, minus the landing," Swindle said. "How are Thundercracker and Killshot?"

"They're just fine. I told them I'd come back and teleport them here." Skywarp replied.

"Alright, do that," Swindle ordered. Skywarp reacted immediately, teleporting away to fetch the other two. Swindle looked at Shockwave's still offline form. IT annoyed him that he wouldn't wake up, although it was probably for the best, considering he's down a eye and he only had one to begin with.

Suddenly, the blue light appeared again, this time with Skywarp and Killshot. Upon appearing, Killshot immediately grab his head and buckle to his knees. Teleporting for the first time was very weird experience for him and he was not ready. Skywarp disappear again to go get Thundercracker leaving the two alone with Shockwave.

Swindle went over to help him get to his feet. "You're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. it's just that teleporting was such a weird thing. My helm hurts."

The blue light appear again, this time with Skywarp and Thundercracker. Thundercracker, unlike Killshot, was use to this and remain unaffected by it. He looked at the sniper, who was still nursing his head. "First time teleporting?" he asked.

"Yeah" Killshot answered in a annoyed tone. Of course it was his first time, he didn't have a seeker who could teleport him anywhere on a whim.

"Great, now that that's over with," Swindle was saying to everybody, "how about you help me move Shockwave onto the table." They all looked at the big scientist. This was going to suck.

They all moved into position, Swindle and Thundercracker grabbing the arms while Killshot and Skywarp grab the legs. Slowly, the four lifted him up. With four people, the load was considerably lessened. They carry Shockwave over to the table making sure that nothing was gonna make them trip. That would be disastrous. They reached the table error free. They slowly lowered him onto the table. With that done, they hooked him up to a machine to measure how fast his spark was fluctuating. Nothing wrong there.

With all that done, Swindle told everyone to leave and let Shockwave rest. None of them were medical personal and had about a good of chance at fixing Shockwave on their own as Starscream not scheming. The group followed his advice, following him to the bridge.

Together, Swindle ask the first question "So, we're heading to Dabola, right?"

"Yes. I'm guessing Skywarp already talked to you about that?" Thundercracker asked.

"Yep. I'll go ahead and contact them and tell them to be expecting us," Swindle answer. "Don't touch anything," he added as a afterthought. He went up to the radio at the cockpit, sending a request to Dabola to talk to them. Swindle had two different ways to talk to them, through video or through the radio. The Decepticons had their own private frequency that the Autobots didn't know and use that to talk from base to base using radio. Swindle got on it and try channeling them.

The other three, on the other hand, were lounging about. Skywarp was sitting on one of the chairs, tapping his talons on the table. Killshot was listening to his headphones, drifting out into bliss. Thundercracker was looking at the tech on the ship, really wanting to see what it could do.

Swindle was getting waiting for the Cons at Dabola to answer. He was growing a bit impatient, but did nothing to show it. In a deal, you got to keep the happy, friendly facade until the clients were gone, not to say Swindle wasn't happy with his life. Just that some clients and employees had a way of pissing him off.

Suddenly, a voice on the other end answers. "Hello? Who is this?" Onslaught.

"Hey Ons, how are you?" Swindle asked. Onslaught was silent on the other end of the line. Swindle was wondering if he turn his radio off before he answered again.

"I'm doing fine Swindle. What are you doing."

"I just came to tell you that I'm coming for some medical aid and a couple of my passengers want to give you some information to give to Megatron."

"Medical aid? Passangers?" Onslaught asked. Swindle answered accordingly.

"The medical aid is for Shockwave. He was injured pretty bad in a blast and is currently offline."

"Shockwave?"

"Yeah, I know. Long story. Skywarp and Thundercracker are the two seekers who are going to give you information."

"Skywarp and Thundercracker too? I knew they were coming, but I'd didn't know you would be escorting them."

"I'm not. We just happen to ran into each other. I'd never intended to work with them."

"But things change," Onslaught interrupted. Swindle looked mournful at that. Things do change often.

Suddenly, Thundercracker interrupted the two. "Um, Swindle, you might want to look at this." Swindle was annoyed by him, but quickly went to see what was up.

"Hold on Onslaught, got to look into something real quick." He got up and follow Thundercracker back to the bridge. Thundercracker was explaining some things.

"While you were trying to get a hold of the Cons on Dabola, I decided to mess around with your big screen, trying to see how it works."

"YOU WHAT!" Swindle yelled. He expected this from Skywarp or his employee, but not from Thundercracker.

"I use your equipment," he answer in a slightly bored tone, like he had to deal with this attitude before. "I was just checking it out. It's pretty easy to use. Anyway, when I use the map function, I noticed something."

"What?"

"Let me show you," he answered. He went to the screen and pressed a button. Suddenly, a 3D-holographic image showed up on the table, showing Cybertron.

Skywarp looked at it in awe. "We don't have this on the Nemesis. How come we don't have."

"Because it came from the Vandrians, and let me tell you, that cost a whole lot," Swindle answered. "Now tell me what I'm seeing here."

"Well, I found something odd," He pointed to a spot that was beeping yellow. "I don't know if that means anything, but I'd figure it was probably important."

Swindle looked at it and answered. "It's a signal, from a Cybertronian ship."

"It is?"

"Yep, now the question is why is it here?" Swindle question.

"Maybe they're scavenging, just like you. Looking for things to use." Thundercracker said, trying to find a logical reason.

"Maybe or they are Autobots looking for something." He clicked the area to see where it was located at. The planet disappeared, now showing a city, with many tall buildings.

A look of recognition showed on Killshot face. "Hey, that's Telos. What's it doing there?"

"I don't know," Swindle answered. Killshot looked frustrated.

"Well than, let's go find out," Killshot snap back at Swindle.

"No," Thundercracker intervene, "We've got a job to perform and the next thing we need to do is head to Dabola and report to Megatron."

Skywarp decided to intervene too. "I say we go there. I'm getting bored and what's going on there could be fun," Skywarp offer his opinion. Thundercracker was looking at the two of them, wondering how to get them to side with him.

Suddenly, Swindle decided to speak too. "Look, everybody, I'm captain of this ship. I decide where we're going and I'd said we're going to Telos." The look of annoyance of Thundercracker face was evident. "If you got a problem, than I recommend keeping it to yourself." He directed that statement at one blue seeker.

Swindle went back to the bridge, ignoring the looks Thundercracker was giving him and the high-fives Killshot and Skywarp were giving each other. He went back to his conversation with Onslaught. "Hey Ons, I'm back. Look, we're going to be a little late. We're picking up signals in a city called Telos over here on Cybertron. We're going over there, check it out, see if there any Autobots there, and then come to you, alright.

There was a sigh on the other end. "Alright Swindle. Just come back in one piece. I don't want to lose anyone else." Swindle could understand that sentiment.

"Don't worry, Ons. It's just a quick check-up. I'll be find. I'll come back in one piece," Swindle said, trying to comfort Onslaught.

"You better. Onslaught out," The line cut off at the other end, leaving Swindle with static. He turned it off and set a course to Telos. He judged that they were going to be there in 30 cycles. The ship got off the ground and head off.

Today just gets better and better.


	7. Pilot: Telos pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Killshot. Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Note:_ Italics _represent comm. chat.

Telos, back when Cybertron was more alive and less dead, was quite a beautiful place. The neon lights were everywhere and were beautiful. The buildings were the so tall that they lorded over the other cities. They weren't just skyscrapers, they were sky-piercers.

The architecture was also some to commend. There were plenty of places to fly, sure, but it was also a freerunner's paradise. There were long pipes, jutting pieces of metal, small platforms, even the neon signs were use to help grounders move around the area with ease. You could almost say it was a living being. The cries of joy from the freerunners ran rampant around the area.

Unfortunately, the neon signs and bright lights were only there to obscure the darker side of it. It's was called a assassin's haven for a reason. The architecture was use by some of the freerunners for helping them with assassinations instead of fun. Its architecture meant lots of points for snipers to use and political assassinations were rampart due to the city corrupt officials. Most taking bribes, while other officials got rid of their enemies through assassins.

Killshot loved it.

They were nearing Telos now. Everyone was looking out through the cockpit window at the city. The legendary tall building was still standing, although it's tough to tell how stable they were from a distance. It's was still dark outside, but the stars help made the area more visible.

"So," Killshot began, "do we know how big that ship it is?"

"From what the sensors shown us, it was a small ship, probably big enough to transport 2 people," Swindle answered. "How well do you know the city?"

"Like I do my gun. I can probably move around the area easily. You, not so much. The seekers can fly around the area."

"So, I guess that means I'm staying on the ship while you guys investigate the other ship."

"Yeah... wait, what?" Killshot looked at Swindle with a questioning looked. Swindle happily provide a answer.

"It's like you said. I don't have much experience in moving around a city well with this architecture. You, on the other hand, had live here for a good portion of your life and know the area really well and can move around the area effortlessly. Thundercracker and Skywarp, on the other hand, can just fly around the area and in between the buildings."

"He raises several valuable points," Thundercracker said, supporting Swindle. He admits, it was a pretty solid plan.

"I always know what I'm doing. Sure, I may not be as good strategist as someone like Onslaught, but I know what I'm doing. Now, can one of you check on th eship's specific location and I'll drop you off there."Thunder obliged to Swindle's request and went to check on the ship's location. When he looked on the map, however he didn't see the ship, yet the signal indicated the ship was still in the area.

"I think we got a problem." Thundercracker said to Swindle.

"What?"

"I can't pinpoint the ship's specific location, but the signal indicates that they're still in the city."

"They could be using a type of jammer device, although a cheap one, considering we can still see that they're still in the city. Probably means that it's an Autobot ship considering not many neutral ships have jammer capabilities in the first place." Swindle said.

"So what do we do?" Skywarp asked for the first time in the conversation, raising a good point. What were they going to do?

Thundercracker had an answer, apparently. "I say we split up, each of us taking a different sector while Swindle stays high above the buildings, making sure no one leaves." The other three looked at each other. It was a good plan.

"Alright," Killshot spoke, "how are we going to do this?"

"I recommend that you take half of the city, considering you've lived here before and know it quite well, while Skywarp and I take the other half."

"Ugh, I got to take half of the city by myself? Hope I can remember the shortcuts."

"Alright then, You will take the south side, I'll take the northwest side, and Skywarp will take the northeast side. Swindle will watch and make sure that they don't leave without us knowing."

"Great. Just to let you guys know we're approaching the city right now from the south side. Anywhere you want to drop off, Killshot?" Swindle asked. Killshot looked up at the buildings coming. Most of the windows on them have been broken from the war and some of the buildings didn't look the best in condition.

"Take me to the top that yellow building over there. I'm pretty sure it has a ladder to help me get to the street." The yellow building, whose color was a bit hard to see but still viewable, in question was quite a bit smaller than the other buildings, barely qualifying as a skyscraper. Its location was on the edge of the city. Everything south of it was just metallic plains.

Swindle did what he wanted and headed towards the building. Killshot left the cockpit area and head for the ship door.

"One more thing." Thundercracker said. Killshot looked at him in a questioning glance. "Don't do anything stupid like Skywarp is sure to do (HEY!). Please radio in for us if you see the ship. I don't want our first mission together ending with you getting kill by stupidity."

"Don't worry, this is my city. I know what I'm doing and will always follow my orders."

"You mean like in Veldin?" Swindle asked in an amused tone.

"Hey, that was a onetime thing!"

"No, it wasn't. I got of all the time you disobey my rules. Luckily, none of those were during deals, which is a good thing I guest. It means you know when to actually follow them. Just think this as a deal, only with less profit and more action." Swindle said, sounding noticeably sadden at the part when he mention less profit. Maybe the enemy's equipment or ship will have something valuable?

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just get me to the fragging building." Killshot said and left in a huff. He walked through the bridge, through the hallways, and reached the door. He open the door, this time with no ramp. He looked outside to see the yellow building. He quickly jumped out of the ship onto the roof of the building. He radioed in to Swindle. "Alright Swindle, you can go now. I'm on the building."

"_Good. I'll take Thundescracker and Skywarp to their drop-off spots and keep floating around the city. Don't get killed, alright. It's hard to find good help these days."_ Swindle answered over the ship's comm. to Killshot's headphones. The ship left, leaving Killshot by himself. He played some thinking music and headed to the north side of the building. When he reached the edge, he found what he was looking for: a ladder.

Killshot was not going to take the whole ladder down to the street. That would take way too long. Instead, he would use it to get to a spot where he can hop around a lot and move above the streets.

He crouched down and reached for the ladder. It felt sturdy. He turned his body around and slowly got in position on the ladder. With that done, he walked down the ladder, step by step, not noticing that the connectors were weaken and significant weight for a while would break it.

He started thinking about the ship. It had to be a small when just to move around the city, thanks to all the obstructions. Telos was mostly land vehicles instead of air vehicles, like most cities. All the obstructions would make driving a ship very difficult and you would waste too much of your time just trying to fly around them. The pilots definitely had some bearings on them.

He went down, more and more, not hearing the creaks the ladder was making. In was too busy thinking about the ship and the electronic beat his headphones were making.

'What about Thundercracker and Skywarp' he thought to himself. Anybody related to the treacherous Starscream would have to be watch over carefully, especially Thundercracker.

The ladder creaked louder, but Killshot still didn't noticed.

'What about Swindle. When will I be done with him?' he wondered to himself. Swindle was his only source of income, energon, and shelter at the moment. He knew sooner or later, he would be done working with Swindle and get back to doing more violent jobs. The deals were starting to get more predictable as the days go by and Killshot desperately wanted a reprieve. That was his only reason for coming to this destroy city in the first place, to break the monotony of his currant life, just like he did when he wanted to work with Swindle, just like he did when he became a sniper for the Decepticon, just like when he became a political assassin.

And the list goes on.

CREAK!

That got his attention. He looked up to see that the top of the ladder had broken off from the building and was leaning away from the building.

Not good.

Killshot hold on as tight as possible as the ladder lean more and more, becoming slightly more horizontal. It was going to crash in the building across from it, Killshot knew, but that didn't stop it from making the experience less terrifying. It came closer and closer to the building…

Suddenly, it crashed. Killshot heard the shattering of glass as the ladder impacted the building. Sounded like a pane of glass just loss the 'longest standing pane of glass' award, a very prestigious one. Too bad.

Killshot relaxed a bit as the ladder was now non-moving. He was currently inbetween the two buildings. It was probably a good idea to get off before something really unexpected happen. He looked around searching for a place to jump. He noticed a large, square platform in the west direction that he could easily jumped to by using a horizontal bar to swing to it and it looked like it went to more avenues of movement.

Killshot got on the other side of the ladder. It provided him with better a batter range of mobility. He steady himself, wanting to make the jump perfect and not accidently slam into the ground and make a blue spatter. He leaped, grabbing the bar. It hold his weight. He started moving his body back and forth, gaining momentum. He released his hands from the bar and swing off to the platform.

Not too shabby.

Killshot looked around. It looked like another platform was just a swing away, only this one was a long, small one, going around the corner of a building. It was perfect.

Before he'd jump, he looked at the area around him. No ship was flying, and he was hearing nothing, but that could've been because he didn't turn off his music. The ship definitely wasn't around the area.

With that, he put his attention back to the platform and leaped to it.


	8. Pilot: Telos pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC, Killshot. Everything else is owned by Hasbro.**

"_This_" indicates comm. chat.**  
**

Swindle was flying to the other side of the city, now. He was currently flying over the city and, thanks to the city's building heights, the ship was almost in space. "How the heck do cities get this high?" he asked himself out loud.

"I don't know,' replied the voice behind him. Swindle looked at Thundercracker momentarily and then went back to look back out the windows of the cockpit. "How much longer till we reached the center of the city?"

"In about a cycle. The city is tall, but it's not very big compared to other cities like Iacon." Swindle answered.

"Good, I really need to shoot something," Skywarp said behind Thundercracker, offering his educated opinion.

"Skywarp, I asked that you not shoot them if you see them unless they shoot at you. When you see them, stay hidden and asked for back-up over our internal comm. channel and we'll be there as quick as possible." Thundercracker ordered him. He was not in a mood for Skywarp's antics today. He just wanted to take care of this problem as soon as possible and then get Shockwave to Dabola for some proper medical care.

"We're coming up on the center of the city," Swindle interrupted them. "I recommend you guys get to the door and fly out. Skywarp will lead you to the door Thundercracker." The two seekers look at each other before heading out to the door with Skywarp humming a little tune and Thundercracker following silently, leaving Swindle by himself.

Swindle slowed down the ship. They were at the center of the ship now. Swindle laid back in his seat, waiting for confirmation from Thundercracker that they were out of the ship. Knowing Skywarp, it might take a while to lead Thundercracker to the door.

Swindle turned on the computer in between the two seats. This computer, along with several others in the bridge, holds non-sensible information to Swindle. He went to a file that said 'cities of Cybertron' and opened it. He went through the list until he found the file on Telos. He clicked it and opened it, looking for information about the city.

First, the population. It once hold over 200,000 Cybertronians. About 50% were middle class, 30% upper class, and 20% lower class. A bit unusual, considering there's usually a lot less upper class and a lot more lower class in other cities.

The architecture was interesting. It shape itself like it was a living being creating what it wanted instead of other cities. Apparently, a bunch of scientist have hypothesize that it is actually living.

At least, it would be, if the core of Cybertron wasn't completely dead now.

The government inside it was interesting. There was a lot of corruption going on. A lot of the middle class were bribe by the upper-class politicians to do what they want, and the lower class really couldn't do much. The upper class had a bunch of feuds with each other, leading to a really high assassination rates. Politicians prefer to have someone else do the dirty work instead of them.

The internal comm. system in Swindle buzzed. "_We're outside of the ship Swindle_," Thundercracker said over the comm. "_I'm heading northeast while Skywarp is head northwest. Best to head outside the perimeter Swindle._"

"Alright. Tell me when you're ready to go. Try not to get killed out there." All was silent on the other end.

Swindle went backed to looking at the data on Telos. Nothing of real importance to look at except for information about the Freerunners and a list of assassinations. A really long list of assassinations. Swindle closed the screen and headed for the perimeter.

Hopefully, they can get out of here soon. Swindle was getting real tire of things interrupting what was supposed to be a simple deal. Just give the chemical to Shockwave, get the money, get out, and continue on to the next deal. Instead, he finds Shockwave injure and two seekers who want answers. Now, they were at a city in which the enemy is capable of slightly jamming there signal and having them waste time Swindle could be using by getting rich. Honestly, was it that hard to get a nice, simple deal to go right?

He was going to rage later on his log. Honestly, no one should have to put up with these. Yeah, the life of an arms dealer was exciting and offers a whole lot of perks, but it also has a lot of stress to it and a lot of variables when striking a deal. There were a lot of variables, most important being 'how much money can you make?' follow by 'are they going to try and screw you over?'

Swindle really couldn't remember much about how he started arms dealing. He knows what he did previously. He was a bureaucrat at Iacon design to make peoples life the pits. He check to make sure that all the little mechs and femmes were paying the taxes they were paying. If they weren't, one called to the police and they were taken care of.

It was fun, helping to decide people's fate. And he guessed he's was helping to decide people fate now by giving them much needed equipment to take out someone else. Guessed he was a giver and taker of life. Didn't matter.

All that matter was the profit.

XXX

Skywarp was flying around the decaying city. He was currently having fun. The obstacles were fun to fly around and filled with a sense of joy.

Seekers naturally loved flying. It was in them to fly. They really hated being on the ground for too long. There was a illness for it called flight deprivation. When seekers don't fly for a extended amount of time, they start getting headaches and don't fill well in general. They looked for anything to simulate the experience of flying. It also wasn't unusual to see some of them hallucinate.

There has been more than one case in which a seeker who couldn't fly jumped off a building thinking he could.

Skywarp didn't really care at the moment where he was. He was just looking for that stupid ship and having fun too. Thundercracker may complain later about the need for Skywarp to indulge himself, but he didn't care. He just wanted to have fun.

That, and kick any Autobot aft while they were at it.

You can call Skywarp many insulting things if you want to, but one thing that everybody agreed on that was not true was that Skywarp was not loyal. Unlike a certain other Seeker that began with star, he was completely loyal to the Decepticon cause. He was definitely one of the biggest supporters of the Decepticon caused. He was also one of the saner Decpticons. Childish and a bit trigger-happy? Sure. Insane? Definitely not. Although, when compared to Thundercracker, you probably said he has a few screws loose in his helm.

Skywarp duck under a long pole than rolled left away from a sign. Skywarp was really enjoying this at the moment. He should try convincing Starscream to come here sometime and practice their flying.

As Skywarp was flying, he noticed something odd. A light in a building was on. Sure, seeing lights on in most places was a constant reminder that there were people there, but this was Cybertron. Everybody here is gone and probably won't be coming back. The light made have been left on, but they should have died by now. Lights don't last that long. Sooner or later, they had to be replaced.

Which mean one of two things: 1) someone was there right now or 2) he was there and left, but forgot to turn the lights on. Either way, Skywarp was definitely checking this out. He decided to comm. Thundercracker about this just to make sure he'd stay happy. "_Hey, TC. I think I found something interesting."_ He waited for a response.

"_What?"_ he asked.

"_There is a light on in a building. I'm going to go check it out_."

"_Wait a second. Let me help you_."

"_Relax, TC. I can take care of myself. Besides, I don't see the ship around, which means that they're probably not here."_ Skywarp was being strangely smarter than usual with that sentence.

"_Alright,"_ Thundercracker agreed. "_Just make sure to buzz me if you need help."_

"_You got it."_ With that taken care of, Skywarp headed to the window with the light on. From what he could see, the glass was already broken, which didn't surprise him at all. Most windows were broken thanks to constant warfare. Skywarp slowed down a little and as he approached the window and then switch to his bipedal form as he enter.

He looked around the room. Looked like an office room of some sort. Pretty bland and without personality, char marks and debris notwithstanding. Near where he came in the window a computer that was on and still working.

That was unusual.

Skywarp approach the computer, making sure there was no 'special surprise' for him. Looked like there was still a chair there. He sat in the chair and started accessing the computer.

He immediately noticed a problem. The whole hard drive was wiped clean. That was going to make things a little harder to figure out what the heck going on around here.

"_Hey Swindle_," Skywarp comm. him.

"_What_?" Swindle replied.

"_Can you tell me what building I'm in?_" Skywarp asked.

"_Sure. Just give me a second to look at the map." _Skywarp waited, tapping his talon on the desk. "_Alright, I'm back. Apparently, you're in a research building. Why did you wanted to know?_"

"_I found a working computer with the hard drive wiped clean and I want to know what kind of information would be on it."_

"_Well, more than likely, you would find schematics or information for various things_." Swindle answered.

"_Do you know what?_"

"_Maybe. Hold on. Let me see. Ah, Found it. According to the blueprints, you're in the research area for explosives."_

"_So, what? They were planning on bombs."_

"_Probably. What type, I don't know._"

"_Okay."_ Skywarp sigh and leaned back in his seat. Well, this was not good. More bombs for anybody besides Decepticons was not a good thing. He looked around the room in thought until he noticed something.

The security cameras were still working.

"_Hey Swindle. Can you lead me to the security rooms?"_ Skywarp asked.

"_Yeah, why?"_

"_The security cameras are still working somehow. We might be able to figure out who was here._"

"_It's still working? Wow, they must have gone and fixed the generator to the whole building. The computer probably wasn't working when they got here. Hold on."_ Skywarp got up and walked around, waiting for Swindle to give him instructions. "_I'm back. You're on the 34__th __floor right now. The security room is all the way at the top, about 30 floors up. Just fly up there and enter through a window on the west side._"

Skywarp happily obliged, immediately leaving through the window and switching to his jet form in mid-air. He flew up quickly and was there in seconds. He entered through the window and transformed back to his regular mode. The room was just like the last, sans all the computers working.

He went up to one of the computer screens and see if it was working. It was and Skywarp quickly access the security footage. "_Hey, Swindle, which room was I in before?"_

"_You were in room 3487,"_ Swindle answered almost immediately.

"_Okay,"_ Skywarp replied, trying to figure out how to work the stupid things. After about five minutes, he finally managed to get to what he wanted and looked at the footage. He rewind it, trying to find out when they were here. He rewind it pass his entrance and looked at nothing for a little while until he found what he wanted.

The footage showed a seeker, to be correct, a black and red one. He was about the same size as Dreadwing, looking a little smaller. One unusual thing Skywarp noticed was the lack of a Decepticon symbol on him, which was unusual for seekers considering most of them aligned with the Decepticons during the war.

Skywarp downloaded the footage and started heading out, contacting Thundercracker along the way. "_Hey TC._ I think I found out who was here." He waited, expecting to hear Thundercracker voice. He waited a cycle, before asking again. "_Hey, Thundercracker, talk why don't you_." Full name now. He was being serious and yet he still receive no answer. "_Come on man, this isn't funny unless I'm the one doing it._" Nothing once again. Skywarp was getting nervous.

"_Hey Swindle, you're there,_" Skywarp asked. Maybe there was something wrong with his own internal comm. link.

"_Yeah._" Frag.

"_Hey, Swindle. Can you find Thundercracker? He's not answering me and it's really ticking me off."_ Skywarp asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"_Yeah, hold on._" He waited. "_He's outside the city's perimeter for some odd reason. Near the northwest corner._" Double frag. "_He's not moving, either._" Triple frag.

"_I'm heading there right now,_"Skywarp said, jumping out of the window.

"_Yeah, okay. I'm sending Killshot over there to help you,_" Skywarp wasn't listening at that point. He was just trying to getting there as fast as possible.

Thundercracker had better be okay.


	9. Pilot: Telos pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Thundercracker was not having a good time.

Right now, he was flying around the buildings and the obstacles trying to avoid another seeker trying to blow him away. From what he could see in between all the dodging, the seeker was a black and red color and a bit bigger than him. He also was good at dodging the obstacles too. He was near the edge of the city now and his enemy wasn't letting up.

Obviously, he was hostile and a annoyance to Thundercracker and had to be eliminated, Autobot or not.

With that said, he tried to contact Skywarp. "_Skywarp_" he said into his comm., "_I need help here. I have a enemy contact here and I need help. Do you understand?_" Static filled the other end of his line. "_Skywarp?_" Still static. Time to try someone else. "_Swindle, you're there?_" Static filled Swindle line too. The enemy seeker took another shot at him, barely missing. "_Killshot, you're there either?_" Static on his end took in the new information. He couldn't contact anyone which meant one of two things have happen.

1.) They were all taken down in one form or another. Thunedercracker immediately dismiss that idea since – slag, that one almost hit him – they were all smart to call for help if they were in trouble and they were all capable individuals.

2.) and the much more likely option, there was jammer around the area, whether in the landscape or on the other seeker, that was blocking his signal and making him unable to communicate with anyone. On the flip side, it meant that the enemy couldn't contact anyone either.

Thundercracker was coming up with a plan to take him out now. What to do? Try to lose him in all the buildings? No, the seeker was skill in maneuvering and that would probably take too much time to avoid him. Try to flank him? Maybe, it would be difficult, but not impossible. He could use these buildings to his advantage and flank him around a building.

While Thundercracker was thinking things through, the other seeker was lining up his sight. He was making sure that this shot will him. It was difficult, considering all the dodging that they both had to do out of necessity of the environment they were in, but he was confident he was going to hit the blue seeker with this shot. They were almost at the end of the buildings which would lead to the outskirts of the city.

He took the shot.

Thundercracker falter in his flying. The shot hit him tight in the wing, setting it on fire. He tried to steady himself, only to get shot again in his other wing. He was descending at a rapid rate, trying to hold it all together. He was about to crash.

Thundercracker transform right before he hit the ground, trying to land on his pedes. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and trip as he landed…

and impaled himself on a pipe sticking out of the ground.

Thundercracker let out a scream as the pipe went through his body. It went straight through, probably hitting some thing important. Thundercracker had been stab before, but never by tripping, really hitting his pride. He grasp his servos around the pipe out of instinct. He looked at it. It went completely through, jutting out of his body. It made him a little sick looking at it.

He looked around his crash site. He was a little outside the city now. Maybe Swindle could help him if he comes fast enough. The night sky was still there. The stars were out, shining upon the city and him. It was beautiful.

Static was lightly filling his vision now. The pipe must've really hit something vulnerable. Thundercracker try to remove himself from the pipe, much to his discomfort. He slowly pull himself off of the pipe and flip over on the ground, face-down. He was in a lot of pain now and the other seeker was dropping down. Unfortunately, for Thundercracker, that was the last thing he saw before the static filled his vision and slipping into unconsciousness.

The black and red seeker walk over to the down blue seeker, looking him over. He was temporary offline and wouldn't be offline for a while. He turned off the jammer on him and contacted someone, making plans.


	10. Pilot: Awe pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Killshot was currently jumping through the city, jumping platform-to-platform and using the bars to swing through the area. He got the called from Swindle to head Thundercracker location and was heading there right now. It wwas going to take him a while, but he would get there quickly. Not as quick as a seeker though.

He reached an intersection between two streets. The sky was still dark and the buildings put the area in a shade, making it hard to see where to go. The dark would be trouble to most people, but Killshot's visor had night vision, letting him see in the dark pretty easily.

He heard something. He listened closely. Sounded like jet moving at high speed. 10 credits says that was Skywarp. Seekers also hadnight vision so that they can do night missions. Probably moving so fast, he could easily get there way before him.

Killshot got an idea.

"Hey, Skywarp," he commed for his attention.

"What?" Skywarp asked, a nervous tone in his voice. He was definitely worried about Thundercracker.

"Can I hitch a ride on you?"

"What?!" Skywarp yelled.

"It would make things a lot easier. We can both reach Thundercracker at the same time and if he's in trouble, I can back you up. Understand?" Killshot finished his idea. Silence filled the other land of the line until Skywarp answer.

"Yeah, if you can hang on. Where are you?"

"You're coming up on me. I can see your flames right now." And he did, too. He could see a light coming very quickly. "Slow down a bit, will you."

"Not happening. Faster I go, the sooner I can get to Thundercracker. You're going have to jump on me."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Killshot sigh in annoyance. He got to the end of the platform, waiting for the light to get closer. He was going to have to time this perfectly in order to land on Skywarp. This was insane, but Killshot was a bit of a thrillseeker.

The light was almost there. Killshot crouch at the edge, about to jump. He quickly went through the probabilities through his head of him making it. The odds were not good. Only a couple more clicks.

He jumped.

Time felt like it slow down for him. It was a euphoric felling. He was in the air, slowly heading towards a spot in the air the seeker was going to be at. He could felt the pulses through his wires. The jet was coming closer and closer. He slowly touched the seeker.

And just like that, time went back to normal and Killshot was holding on for dear life. He knew that it was going to be fast, but he didn't know it would be this fast. He was used to running or driving through the streets, not hanging on for dear life as a jet speeds up to ridiculous levels.

"Hang on there," Skywarp warned. "If you let go, I'm leaving you behind." Killshot would of respond, but he was busy at the moment. He decided to just curse the seeker out in his mind.

XXX

Swindle was also flying to the spot. His ship was going quickly and soon he would reach the outskirts. He was anxious at the moment. If something bad happen to Thundercracker, Starscream was going to be pissed off at someone and would direct that anger of his to the person responsible, A.K.A. Swindle. Whether Swindle like it or not, Starscream was second-in-command and held a lot of sway with people. He could convince people to work against him and make his life the pit.

He looked at Thundercracker's location on the map again. He was still at the exact same spot. He was probably either knock out, too injure too move, or a combination of both. He looked at Skywarp and Killshot's location now. They were both together and going at a rapid pace. Probably only a cycle now before they reach Thundercracker.

Wait a second, how were they both going so fast?

"Hey Skywarp and Killshot?" Swindle commed them.

"Skywarp here. Killshot a bit busy at the moment and can't talk. What do you need?" Skywarp asked in the same agitated tone.

"Yeah, about that. Can you explain to me what he's doing that's keeping him busy?" Swindle asked.

"Right now, he currently hanging on to me as we're flying. I don't think he's enjoying it." It's at that moment that Killshot decided to talk.

"Skywarp, if you don't slow down, I'd will fragging destroy you!" He shouted into his commed link.

"Really? Well than, in that cause, let's make things a bit more fun."

"Wait, what? Oh, what the frag? Stop! Stop now!" Killshot's scream started filling Swindle's ears. He quickly muted his comm. link and wondered what the pit was going on.

"Hey, Skywarp. What exactly is going on?" he asked Skywarp.

"Oh, just teaching the killjoy a lesson," he answer in a slightly amused tone. Whether or not Thundercracker was okay or not, he was obviously enjoying this.

"May I asked how you're educating him?"

"Oh, you know. Just flying upside down, barely hanging on to me." He ask in a nonchalant tone. He was really enjoying this.

"Okay. Can you turn right-side up. I kinda don't want him to be a mark on the ground yet."

"Really? I'm really enjoying the screams he's making." Skywarp asked in a begging tone. Swindle thought that through for roughly 5 clicks before answering.

"Nah. It'd be best to have his help in what's coming up." He heard a sigh on the other end of the link.

"Alright, fine. I already save his screams into my databanks anyway," Skywarp replied. Swindle switch the link between him and Killshot back on. He immediately heard swearing on the other line, all of them directed at Skywarp. There was also some death threats in between all the swearing.

Swindle looked at there location. "Just letting you guys know, you should be almost there by now," he informed them.

"Yeah, I can see the end of the street. I'm slowing down now."

"Finally!" Killshot yelled out in a relived tone. "Can we finally kill something?"

Swindle ignore the conversation after that, concentrating on the map. He was at the spot too, looking down at the scene of what was going on down there. He could see the seeker and the grounder landing on the ground. The grounder got off as the seeker transform back to his bipedal form. They were walking towards Thundercracker location, Skywarp running while Killshot followed behind at a slower pace.

Swindle tune backed in to them. "Hey, TC, you're alright?" Skywarp asked. Swindle looked at Thundercracker's body. He was faced down, energon leaking from his body in a blue puddle. He was definitely not in good shape.

Killshot was looking around the area, his null rifle out. Swindle, too, was looking around, looking for anything. He didn't see anybody around. "Hey, Skywarp. Be careful," Killshot said to Skywarp.

"Why?" he asked.

"Don't you think that this is a bit suspicious? I mean, here's Thundercracker in the middle of the opening with little cover."

"So, the only thing I care about right now is Thundercracker." Skywarp answered.

"Skywarp," Swindle said, "as much as I don't want to said it, he's right. It all says ambush to me. Stay away from Thundercracker." Skywarp was getting closer to Thundercracker now.

"Get fragged!" Skywarp yelled out. "I can hear him talking." That got Swindle's attention. Killshot was also moving a little faster. Swindle tried to listen in on them, but could hear nothing.

"What exactly is he saying?" Swindle asked. Skywarp was standing over Thundercracker now with Killshot only a little bit away.

"I think he's saying 'don't,' but don't what?" Skywarp had his hand on Thundercracker now. He was pulling him on his back. "What are you saying, T-"

An explosion suddenly occurred at his location, cutting off whatever he was going to say. Thundercracker was engulfed in the explosion, Skywarp was blown away and cut apart by shrapnel, and Killshot just drop to the ground, holding on to his leg. All this happen within seconds.

Swindle just watched the screen in awe.

**AN: I feel like such a douche bag for doing this.**


	11. Pilot: Awe pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns transformers.**

Killshot was in pain. To be specific, it was his leg. When the explosion was set off, a random pipe just came out of no where and impale him in the leg, going straight through and making his day a lot worse after Skywarp's stunt.

Speaking of Skywarp, Killshot could see him writhing on the ground in agony. The fragments from the explosion cut his chest open and it looked like a arm was missing. Luckily for him, the explosion also cauterize the wound, making sure he would lose much more energon. Probably hurt like the pit though, considering a lot of him was black instead of purple.

Killshot looked backed at his leg. He could see a small amount of energon trickled down from the end of the pipe not in his leg. It must've hit a energon line. That was definitely not good. Still looking at his leg, he use his servos to grab whatever he could find to help him bleed less. He grab something and looked at to see if it could help.

It was Thundercracker's head.

Killshot quickly drop the head, regarding it with disgust. At least there wasn't any questions about whether Thundercracker was alive or not. The explosion definitely ripped him apart.

Killshot started thinking about the situation. How in the name of primus could they walked into a obvious trap? Simple, Skywarp had to get too fragging attach to his trinemate and get himself blown up. Honestly, he'd should have follow his orders and stay the frag away from him and Killshot himself should have stayed farther away. Caring about anyone besides yourself was a good way to get yourself killed.

Suddenly, he heard Swindle shouting into his ear. "Is everyone alright? I repeat, Kilshot, Skywarp, Thundercracker, are you still alive? Anybody?" Killshot really wanted to answer with a snappy comment, but considering he was his only way out of this situation, it was best to just get straight to the point.

"Hey, Swindle. Killshot here. I'm alright except for my leg. Skywarp was seriously injure during the explosion, and Thundercracker dead. I need a evac here as soon as possible," he answered.

"Alright. Just give me a couple of clicks and I should be able to land the ship. The land is big and flat enough for me to land safely."

"Hurry up. They slaggers who did this are probably going to check to make sure we're all dead."

"Got it. Just hold tight." Swindle ordered him. Killshot happily obliged and went back to figuring out what the heck to do with pipe in the leg. Should he tried taking the thing out and patch the wound, potentially making things worse for him, or do nothing and leave it there?

Killshot made a quick decision. He grabbed the pipe and pulled it out roughly, holding back a scream of pain while doing so. He quickly put his hand on the wound to prevent it from bleeding anymore and use the other to look for something to patch it. He saw a rather decent size piece of metal next to Thundercracker's head and use that to help patch the wound. He tried to ignore the fact that the piece of metal was blue.

He looked for something to help him patched the wound. He noticed a rod that was halfway in a fire. He quickly grabbed that rod on the cold end, pulling it out of the fire and used the heated in on the piece of metal, attaching the metal to his body, much to his suffering.

With that done, he admire his handy work. Yeah, the paint of the metal didn't match his, but he couldn't afford to be picky at times like this. He didn't see anymore energon leaking from it, and he could hear Swindle's ship coming down. Everything was fine.

Suddenly a shot went above his helm, barely missing him. Killshot made the wise decision and head for any cover he could find, which unfortunately for him, happen to be a small barrier with no other cover around him. He quickly dive for it, and kept his head down. He contacted Swindle. "Hey, Swindle. Can you get your blaster ready?"

"Yeah, I can. Is the enemy there?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah, they are. Can you use those blasters to send those slaggers to the pit?" One shot came dangerously close to hitting him.

"Yeah, I can. Can you tell me their location?"

"Hold on a second. Let me see if I can see them without getting shot." Killshot poked his head up rather quickly, seeing if he could see them. Suddenly a shot came for him from a white building a little to the left. Killshot duck his head quickly before the shot hit him, and told Swindle, "The white building to my left. The slagger almost got me."

"Alright, hold on. Let me see if I can hit it. Do yo know which floor he was on?" Killshot think that over trying to member which floor it was.

"I think he was about 20 floors up. I'm not sure."

"Alright. Getting ready to fire. Stay clear." Suddenly the ship came out of the sky, it's front towards the building. There was a light shining on the front of the ship. He was charging the shot. Killshot wonder exactly how big the explosion would be. He's never seen him fire the gun on the ship. In fact, he probably hasn't seen all the guns on the ship.

Swindle fire at the building. Killshot looked seeing someone flying away from the building. The blast hit the building, blinding the area in a bright light briefly follow by smoke. Killshot could hear something collapsing, probably the building. The smoke was obscuring everything.

Killshot got up slowly, trying to walk through the smoke. It was clearing pretty qickly, light the night sky bleed through. He was walking towards where he last seen Skywarp, limping along at a slow pace. That pipe really made a good hit.

He continue walking along, the smoke dissipating quicker and quicker. He could see Skywarp now, still groaning, along with some pieces of Thundercracker. He walked a little quicker, wanting to check what kind of damage he had.

The ship had landed by now, tight side towards them. The door opened up follow by the ramp and Swindle walked out of it, checking to assess the damage. He came to Skywarp and Killshot's position. He got a quick look at Skywarp. "Slag. You weren't kidding when you said he was injure. He looks like he went up against half the army. I'm surprise he's still kicking."

"Yeah, I'm surprise too." Killshot replied.

"Where's Thundercracker's body?"

"Scatted by the explosion. His head is over there somewhere," he said, pointing to where he was when he was hit by the pipe.

"Alright. I'll get Skywarp to the med bay while you collect as many pieces of Thundercracker as we can?"

"Why am I collecting Thundercracker?"

"Do you think Starscream would appreciate the fact that we got him killed and left the body behind?"

"Good point." Killshot agreed a little reluctant to be a body collector. He went to pick up the many pieces of him while Swindle carried Skywarp bridal style to the ship. Killshot first headed to the spot he saw Thundercracker head. He walked slowly, his limp still showing. It took a little while to reach the spot and a little bit more to find the head.

He looked at the head. Thundercracker head was mangaled a bit by the explosion and he had a eye missing. Some of the wiring was sticking out of the bottom of the head, where it should be connected to the head. It was not a pretty sight.

With Thundercracker's head, he searched for the rest of the pieces.


	12. Pilot: Awe pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers. **

A black and red jet was flying away from the building, really wanting to get out of there. It was going just fine. Strap the helpless seeker with explosive, let his allies come save him, and then take out the stragglers. It worked like a charm too. The only one left standing was a grounder and was suppose easy pickings, but the slagger was quick, dodged the shots, and found cover. Alright, so he was being a little difficult. Didn't change the fact he could have just gone over there and bomb him.

But then the fragging ship showed up and punched a unicron-size hole in his plans.

Now, he was flying back to the ship to regroup with his allies. They should be waiting for him back at their ship. He flew through the night air, dodging the obstacles that hinder his progress.

He was at the ship now. He quickly change into his bipedal form and enter through the open door. He looked to see two bots in the cockpit, one standing and the other sitting in the pilot's seat, idly talking to each other. He closed the ship door and approach the other two.

The two bots looked virtually the same. Both were grounders. Both had the same body type down to the very last detail from their average height and stocky body with long legs and short arms. They even had the same eyes, a purple dot surrounded by red. The only differences were in the colors. One was red while the other was blue. The two were split-spark twins.

The red one standing up address him. "Hey, Bombline. How did you do out there? Ran into a little trouble?"

Bombline provided a answer. "Yes, I did and I advise that we get out of here now, Warmup. They have a ship with enough power to destroy one of these buildings. How do you think our ship will fair?"

"Obviously, not very well," the blue one interjected, in a calm demeanor. He was already getting the ship ready to go. He hit a switch and the ship came to life. He took control and flew the ship up towards the sky, avoiding any thing that could interfere. Flying through the skies in a ship, even a small one like these, was difficult, but the blue grounder controlled the ship like an expert, avoiding all obstacles. Soon, they were out of the city and into the sky, leaving the planet.

"Good job Cooldown," Warmup said to his twin.

"Nothing special," he replied back.

"Alright, Cooldown," Bombline interrupted the two, "set the coordinates to Talos IV. We're to meet out employers there to get the money for what they wanted." Cooldown inputted the coordinates to the map and flew towards the area, leaving the dead planet behind.

"You two should go recharge," Cooldown recommended. "It's going to take a while reach Talos IV."

"Yeah," Warmup admitted. "It's been a long day. I could use it."

"I suppose you have a point," Bombline said. Together, the two walk through a door to the only other room on the ship, the barracks, leaving Cooldown by himself to drive them through space.

He liked the silence.

XXX

Skywarp was in pain. So much pain. He wasn't concentrating on anything else except the pain. His hcest felt like he was stabbed over a hundred times and he didn't felt a arm on his left side. He just felt the pain in the shoulder.

He laid in the med bay, on the table next to Shockwave. Swindle wsa in there too, doing whatever he can to make sure that Skywarp would get to Dabola alive. He had already added a wired into Skywarp to get the flow of energon flowing. He was trying to figure out what else to do. He didn't exactly have much in the way of medical devices that he actually knew how to use. He had a idea and went looking for it.

Killshot came in the med bay, carrying the remains of Thundercracker with him. He went over to the only other table in the room and laid the pieces on there. It was difficult, but he think he found all of Thundercracker's important parts, ie. arms, legs, body, head… You know, important stuff like that.

Swindle was still looking for something. He looked in a compartment and found what he was looking for: a sedative. He went over to Skywarp's form and injected into him, hoping it would keep him calm and put him in recharge. It took a little while before the sedative kicked him and put Skywarp in la-la-land.

With that done, Swindle plug him up to a machine. On the screen of the machine, the activities of his spark show up, showing that it was still pulsating. With that done, he turned to Killshot and talked to him. "Stay here and make sure nothing happens to Skywarp, alright." Swindle ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Killshot muttered, still standing next to the remains of Thundercracker, listening to his music. Swindle took that enthusiastic answer and ran straight to the bridge. It didn't take long to reach it, as nothing hinder his progressed except for a piece of a leg from Thundercracker that Killshot dropped and accidently forgot about. Swindle made a mental note to ask him if he actually cared about anything besides getting a cheap thrill and music.

He reached the bridge and headed straight to the video communicator. He set it up to talk to the Dabola base and waited for Onslaught to answer the request. It didn't take long for the base to answer, although the person wasn't Onslaught. Instead, a grounder with a gold face and a red and black paint job was there. "Hello," he replied in a bored voice, "who is this."

"This is Swindle, universal arms dealer and information broker," he replied in the same greeting he gave to everyone, "I've got a problem. I got injure Decepticon personal and they really need some medical help. I've already talk with Onslaught about this and he said we could land here to help them. I'm just here to warn you that we are coming and that you should expect us."

The grounder on the other end looked at him with that bland face before replying, "Let me talk to Onslaught about this and make sure you're telling the truth." With that, he put his attention off of the screen to something else, not looking at Swindle. Swindle knew this con but, he couldn't put a name to him. It was bothering him. Suddenly, another voice filled the screen.

"Yes, Dead End," Onslaught said. Swindle knew now who the other con was. Dead End was a member of the Stunticons and was the sanest member of the team. He used 'was' because, over time, Breakdown had gotten over his intense paranoia of everything thanks to the help of a medic called Knock Out and the death of their leader, Motermaster, a con who is definitely not miss by most of the Decepticon. Because of that, Dead End is now held in the same regard as the other two living Stunticons, which is not very good company to be associated with.

"I have someone on the other line called Swindle that wants to-"

"Let him land," Onslaught interjected. "Is he there?"

"I think he can hear you right now."

"Swindle, you okay?"

"Yeah," Swindle answered, "can't say the same about everyone else though."

"What?" Onslaught asked in a worried tone.

"The mission went straight to the pit, Onslaught. Thundercracker dead, Skywarp critically injure and will require surgery, and my bodyguard is now walking with a limp. Thundercracker got ambush and others tried to help him and walk right into a trap," Swindle said, giving him the basic rundowns of the events.

"Oh, slag" Onslaught muttered, actually cursing. That was not a good sign. "How long before you reach Dabola?" he asked.

"About 2, maybe 3, megacycles," he replied.

"Alright, I'll alert out medics about this and they will get ready for surgery," Onslaught said.

"Good, see you soon," Swindle said.

"See you soon, too," Onslaught said leaving Swindle to stare at the black and red con. The two look at each other, before Dead end spoke, "So, Thundercracker is dead and Skywarp needs surgery. How unexpected," he said in a bland voice.

"Yeah, you could say that. You care about them?" Swindle asked.

"Not really. We're just food for rust. We're all going to die someday, it's just a manner of when." Dead End said, ever the cheerful con that he is.

"Right, well, bye," Swindle said, really not wanting to have a conversation like these with him. He hit a button to end the chat and head for the pilot's seat. He started up the ship and the ship started to ascend. It went up quicker and quicker it was they were above the city. Swindle speed up the ship and started to head for Dabola.


	13. Pilot: Preparations pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Transformers is owned by Hasbro. **

Onslaught made his way through the hallways of the base, heading to the med-bay to inform the medics about their guest. The base had four different medics. Well, three medics and a medical assistant. It would only take about a cycle to reach them now. On the way there, he passed up many Vehicons, all looking the same.

Onslaught was a pretty impressive looking figure; he was considerably taller than the other mechs and was quite bulky with a lime-green and blue paint job and yellow optics. He was more of a hands-off strategist, staying behind and planning his next move. He's a pretty responsible figure and knows what he's doing most of the time. Of course, there are times when he slips up, and some of those slip-ups had some pretty bad consequences. Look at what happen to the Combaticons because of a certain slip-up for example.

He was at the door now, and he pressed the open button. The wide doors open with a nearly silent hiss. Onslaught walked in and saw the three of them doing something. Flatline was doing some researching on the computer, Scalpel was patching up a small wound on a Vehicon's head (idiot trip somehow), and Hook was working on… something. That left one unaccounted for.

"Hook, where's Scavenger?" he question the green and purple mech. Hook looked at him from where he was at and then turn back to his work, before answering him.

"He's not here. My guest, he's either out looking for supplies or at the morgue. Why?"

"We are having some injure personal coming and they need all the help they can get." Onslaught answer quickly, answering loud enough so that the other two in the room would heard him.

"Who?" question Scalpel, jumping off of the vehicon, his job done. Scalpel was a really small bot, reaching at the most, to slightly above other people's feet. He also walks on six legs, which has a habit of freaking out some of the cons. He also has a weird accent that no one quite knows where in the pit that he got it from.

"Swindle is coming in with them. He is uninjured, but the others are, to varying degrees. His bodyguard, Killshot is walking with a limp, probably impale by something. There's also Shockwave, who has been offline for awhile, according to Swindle. He didn't say anything about his condition, except that he was injure in a blast of some sort. Finally, Skywarp is critically injure and is going to need surgery. I don't know how bad it is, but according to, it was really bad."

"Anyone else?"

"One casualty. Thundercracker." Onslaught said.

"What?" asked Flatline, looking away from the screen towards Onslaught. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not." Onslaught said. Flatline looked angry at that. He had a black paintjob, with red highlights. He was a grounder and probably the best surgeon in the room.

"How did he die?" he asked.

"He was caught in a explosion and was blown to pieces." Onslaught answered, a hint in sorrow in his voice. He knew about the particular relationship between the two. Thundercracker was pretty much the main reason Flatluine got up in the ranks and approved of his experiments. Onslaught didn't know how they became friends, but he knew they good friends with each other, despite Flatline questionable sanity at times.

"How much time do we got?" asked Hook, interested in the conversation. Thundercracker was a high-level Decepticon and if he got offed, than that meant serious business.

"About two-to-three Megacycles until they get here." Onslaught answered. He started heading for the door. "I'll head down to the morgue to see if I can find Scavenger," he said as he left. He was back in the hallway, and started head in too the morgue. It wasn't too far away from the med-bay. Just have to turn right at the corridor up ahead and it would be at the end of the hall. Onslaught walked quickly towards the room.

Onslaught didn't quite know why Scavenger spends so much time in the morgue. It just always seemed odd to spend so much time to spend around bodies. Maybe he weas conducting experiments on them? Probably not. He didn't seemed like the type to experiment on them, like Flatline.

He turn around the corridor too see someone else outside the morgue, looking inside. The person was a jet and had a red and white paint job. He also had a scrapload of scars on his body, some from battle, but most of it looked like it came from torture. Onslaught knew immediately it was Misfire.

Misfire is, to put it bluntly, the worst shot in the history of warfare. Seriously, no one else is worse with a gun than with him. The most notable achievements he has was being the single most Decepticon to enroll into Decepticon Miltary Collage (4627 times!) and for being the person responsible for the Great Friendly Fire of Iacon, in which he accidently killed twenty other Decepticons, an event in which Megatron personally punish him for. It was not pretty.

Onslaught walked up to the con slowly, wondering why was in waiting outside the morgue. He reached him and asked him in a low voice, "Why are you waiting outside the morgue?" Misfire jumped a bit and turned around to face the person behind him. Realizing who it was, he calm down.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," he said, in a tense tone, looking up at Onslaught, who was considerably taller than him. In fact, he was the tallest person around the base.. "Now, what was it you want?"

"Why are you here?" he asked again, a little annoyed.

Misfire pointed inside and answered, "Scavenger in there, taking to the corpses." Onslaught looked at him liked he just said he hit a bulls-eye. Talking to corpses was… unusual, to put it lightly. "He just talks to them liked he's having a normal conversation. To be honest, it's freaking me out." Onslaught silently agreed with him, but kept it to himself.

"You still haven't answer why you're here in the first place." Onslaught said. Why was Misfire doing around the morgue.

"I was just walking around, minding my own business," Misfire said. Onslaught gave him a looked that said 'I know you're lying now tell me what I want to know,' and cracked his servos, showing what would happen if he don't talk. Misfire obliged, saying in a fast voice, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you. I came down here to see if I could get anything from the dead. The door opened, but before I went inside, I heard Scavenger talking. I peeked inside and sawed him talking to one of the dead bodies. It was freaky; felt liked in was on a set for a horror film. You know, one of those films where the bad guy some insane guy who likes to talked to the corpses of the people he killed. You know what I'm talking about?" Another thing about Misfire, he liked to talk a lot sometimes.

"Yes, I understand what you're talking about. Now leave." Onslaught said, a head on his hand, trying to keep calm.

"Alright, fine man. If you need me, I'll be at the target range, see if my skills can get any better than they already are."

'Good,' Onslaught thought. 'You need it.' Misfire went by his loneself and Onslaught was left standing by himself. Onslaught looked inside the morgue and went inside. The room was a big room, which was a good thing considering the amount of Vehicons that die on a regular basis. Seriously, they died so easily.

The first thing he noticed was Scavenger standing over one of the bodies on the table. He was colored green and people, like Hook, his chest, arms, and shovel-tail were colored green while his legs were purple, leaving the head black and the optics red. He was talking to the corpse. "I don't know what to do. Nothing seems good enough, but you're my friend right." Onslaught had the immediate feeling of getting the frag out of the room and pretend like he didn't just saw that, but stay nonetheless and decided to speak up.

"Hey, Scavenger," he spoke up. Scavenger turned around sharply, looking frighten.

"Onslaught, what do you need? Anything I can help with?" he said, in a scared tone. Onslaught had to hand it to him for not stuttering.

"Just came to tell you that we're going to have injure personal here within two or three megacycles. Hook's going to need you." Onslaught said, ignoring the whole 'why do you talk to corpses' conversation. He'll save that for a boring day.

"Alright, I'll head over there right now," he said, walking quickly passed Onslaught and heading to the med-bay. He walked quickly, almost tripping as he did so. Onslaught looked around the morgue one last time, before exiting.


	14. Pilot: Preparations pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Transformers is owned by Hasbro.**

Dead End was in the command room, looking at the tactics Onslaught was using. Onslaught and him had a good system going on in regards to anything that involve a plan. Onslaught would come up with the plans and Dead End would figure out all the bad things that could happen in the plans. If you ask him "What's the worst thing that could happen?" he will depressingly give you all the ways in which it could end badly. It was his specialty. Sure, it didn't give a good social life, but it did help out in plans, whether it's battle strategies or how to best ration out supplies.

He was currently looking at the supply manifest. They medics all have their tools along with back-ups, so their good, unless a freak explosion happens. Hey, you never know. The energon supplies were still high and should be good, unless Misfire somehow manage to blow them up again.

Dead End just got done with the last of the supplies when he got a called from Onslaught on the comm. link. The red and black con answered in a bored tone, "Yes, Onslaught."

"Just decided to tell you to go to the firing range; Misfire is there right now and everybody is too busy to watch and make sure he doesn't blow anything up again by accident." Onslaught said.

"Alright, I'm heading there now. I just finish checking the supplies. Come read the notes I'd left for you once you get the chance."

"Will do. Later, Dead End." Onslaught hung up, leaving Dead End all by his lonesome self. He headed for the door quickly, knowing that if Misfire is left alone for too long, disaster was sure too struck. Last time they did that, as previously mentioned, he somehow blew up half of the energon, leaving more than a few Decepticons tick off. Misfire made the wise decision to hide until it blew over, which was a pretty long time.

Dead End went into the brightly lit hallways and made his way to the firing range. It was a short walk, the firing range was near the middle of the base, the command center, and could be reach quickly at most places. Dead End passed by several of the Vehicons, most of which were idly talking each other, enjoying the fact that they have a social life, unlike a certain moody red and black bot.

Dead End was at the firing range now. He stop before he entered the door. He could hear Misfire firing on the other side, probably missing all the targets. Dead End, despite ultra-depressing and talked like he'd was best friends with death, didn't exactly wanted to go in there. Misfire astonishing inaccuracy would probably hit him, and, knowing Misfire skill with a gun, probably would give him an agonizingly slow death instead of a quick one. Dead End may be a fatalist, but he wasn't masochist.

Dead End, finally gaining the courage (and urge to care), went into the room. He found Misfire firing at the targets in the room, red-and-white cutouts of bots. At least, he was trying to hit them. So far, the only thing he hit so far was the wall and a Vehicon that had his helm blown off. Misfire must've accidentally hit him. Wasn't the first time he'd accidentally killed one, not that many people cared. They were just cannon fodder anyway.

Dead End slowly walked up to Misfire, taking care to make sure Misfire wasn't accidentally pointing the gun in his direction. Misfire looked frustrated, which wasn't surprising. He just wanted to hit something that wasn't moving. The Vehicon was moving like a idiot into his line of sight and died by a misplaced bullet. He noticed Dead End was coming his way and took cared not to aim at him. Unlike Vehicons, some people would care if he died.

Dead End stood by Misfire, watching him shoot the gun. Honestly, he looked like he was holding the gun correctly and was aiming at the target, but the shot always manage to somehow be way off target. It was quite the phenomenon, all this failing. Misfire, Dead End had to admit, was determine. He was not going to give up until he hit one of these targets. You here me, he was not going to-

He gave up.

Misfire threw his gun on the ground and kicked it once, accidently firing the gun and almost hitting Dead End in the head if he didn't duck in time. Looked like Dead End still had self-perseveration instinct. He looked at Misfire, looking at the gun like it personally insult him, and said some really bad things about his momma. Dead End watched this with a uninterested look, his purple optic looking at other areas. A Vehicon was poking his head inside to watch the show.

Misfire was calming down now, now only looking at the gun like it was idiot. He grabbed the gun and headed for the armory the the back of the room, muttering to himself that it was just defective gun and that he should report it to the his superiors once he was done. A superior just so happened to be here right now and wanted to see if the gun was really defected. "Misfire, can I see the gun?" Dead End asked in the same bored tone.

Misfire looked at him and said "Sure. I think the gun's defected or something. It keeps missing for some reason." 'Sure, just like the gun you use to kill your twenty allies back at Iacon' Dead End thought to himself. He took the gun and headed to the range, ready to try the gun out. He hold it out, putting the end on his shoulder and aimed down the sight. He tooked aim at the head of a target and fired.

It took the target's head clean off.

Dead End, deciding that one perfectly executed shot wasn't enough, decided to take off the two arms of the target off next. Both shoots landed right in the shoulder, taking the arms off. For the Coup de Gras, he aimed right at the sparked chamber of a target and fired, punching straight through the target's spark.

With that done, he handed the gun back to Misfire and said in his ever bored tone, "I think the gun is working, but feel free to try out a different gun if you want to. Maybe one of those might actually be defected and blow up in your hands. It's best to figure this out before we do suicidal assaults on the Autobots." He went back to a wall and lean on it, watching Misfire, who was just looking at the gun. Misfire snap out of his trance and went back to the firing range and started firing again, missing the targets completely.

This kept up, varying in degrees of enjoyment to everyone who decided to watch, except for Dead End, who just decided to watch the whole sad state of affairs with his 'I really don't cared' look. Each shot, Misfire grimaced grew wider. Soon, he started cursing at every shot along. A little while longer, it boiled down to just gibberish that wouldn't be intelligible to any language except for some obscure, archaic who just figure what language was.

After about a whole megacycle of just firing, Misfire actually manage to hit something!

It was a glancing blow.

That didn't matter, though. Misfire was cheering loud and hard, dancing and shouting all kinds of weird things like "Who's bad? I'm bad." and "I've got the TOUCH!" Dead End somehow manage to keep the same look throughout the event, maybe having his mouth go higher by a fraction of a inch, but still not going anywhere close to a smile.

Having showboated enough, Misfire decided to head back to the armory, a job well done in his opinion. A probably not ever close to injure bot was a good day in his opinion. Soon, he will be taking heads off with the gun.

Dead End follow Misfire, making sure he wasn't going to be using any other guns, specifically the missile launcher. Only Primus knows what damage he could cause if he got his hands on one of those. Misfire put the gun back in its rightful place. Dead End decided to ask a question.

"When exactly is you appointment he ask?" That may seem like a odd question until you realized that Misfire was also having therapy. Turns out, getting brutally torture and accidentally killing your allies can really mess up your psyche.

"I don't have one today. Hook's going to be too busy with the injure guys coming in for a session," he answered. "Besides, I still don't get why I'm having them in the first place. I mean, I'm just fine. There's nothing wrong with me." That's what he always said, but he's not fooling everybody. After that particular incident with Megatron, Misfire was pretty adamant about making sure no one touches him, not even medics. "Also, why the heck is Hook a therapist. I mean, I just don't get it."

"Because, we don't have a official therapist and out of all the medics we have, Hook is definitely the most stable of them." Dead End answer.

"Okay, good point, but still, Hook! The guy is way too egotistical for his own good." Well, he had a point there. Hook was a bit of a egotist.

"Flatline is a individual who like to experiment people, Scalpel loves to take things apart, and Scavenger needs therapy himself. Compare Hook to those three and I said you're getting off easy, unless of course you want to die. If you do, I head Scalpel looking for a fresh corpse." Dead End said, making several good points in that monotone voice of his. One must wonder if it ever shows emotion besides boredom and melancholy.

"That's fine. I'm just fine with Hook, even if he ignores most of the things I said." Misfire said. "So, how long before the guys get here?" he asked.

"I'm guessing less than megacycle by now."

"Alright. I'm going to go hang out somewhere. Try not to need my help," Misfire said, ending the conversation and exiting the firing range. Dead End follow suit, deciding to hang around the command area and see if he could get any more work done.


	15. Pilot: Preparations pt 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.

Onslaught was walking through the halls heading to his next location, Mixmaster's lab. Mixmaster was the base resident chemist and made all kinds of things, from drugs to explosives. Mostly explosives. He was also a Construction, like Hook and Scavenger. Like them, he had a purple-and-black paint job, but was considerably bulkier than them.

Onslaught had reach the door and it open with silently. The room was brightly lit and colored a dark shade of purple. There were many machines in the room. Mixmaster was currently standing over one of them, doing something Onslaught didn't quite know and muttering to himself. He wasn't a chemist, he was a tactician.

He walked towards Mixmaster tensed pace and spoke, "Mixmaster, I need some of your supplies. We have a patient coming in and the medics are going to need a sedative to keep asleep during the operation." Mixmaster didn't react, instead looking at the chemicals he was using, still muttering. A lot of the Decepticons were pretty sure that he had a least a few loose wirings in his head. "Mixmaster?" he asked loudly. Mixmaster looked up from his worked, looking at Onslaught.

"What is it that you need?" he asked calmly. Onslaught looked at him tensely. He really didn't want to piss him off. Of all the people on the base, Mixmaster was probably the best one at making your death looked like a accident. "Idiots blow themselves all the time by taking stuff from my lab," he says. Others, naturally, don't believe him, but don't have any proof.

"We need some sedatives," Onslaught repeated. "It's for a patient that's coming in." Mixmaster looked at him a little bit before answering.

"Sure." Well, that was easy.

"Good, where are they?"

"In the container over here. Let me show you." Mixmaster walked from his place to a box next to the wall with Onslaught following behind him. The box was a pretty box, about the size of Onslaught's chest. Mixmaster picked up the box and handed it to Onslaught. "I have several different sedatives in here. I got them in order, from left to right , strongest to weakest. Be warn, I make the strong stuff really strong. It might just be enough to slow your spark down to the point that it will kill you," he warned.

"Thanks, Mixmaster. I'll be sure to tell the medics about what you say." Onslaught said, his voice straining. The box was heavy.

"Good, now, get the frag out of my lab! I have some things to make and you interrupting me." Onslaught wisely took his advice and scram. Last thing he wanted was a pissed off chemist. He walked into the hallway, towards the med-lab. He walked quickly, the sooner he got there, the sooner he could get rid of the box. He accidently bumped into several Vehicons on the way there, not bothering to apologize for it.

He arrived at the door and quickly entered the room. The medics were done prepping for surgery and was waiting on Onslaught for the sedatives. Flatline approach Onslaught and took the box from him. He went to a table and placed it on there. He opened the box and looked through the sedatives. "How strong are the sedatives?" he asked.

"They go in order, from strongest to weakest, left to right. He said to be really careful with the strong stuff," Onslaught answered, parroting what Mixmaster said.

"Alright, how much longer before Swindle gets here?"

"About 15 cycles."

"Good. Anything else you want to tell us?"

"No. I'm, going to the landing area and wait for Swindle. When he arrives, the Vehicons will escort the patients here." Onslaught said to all and left the room and headed to the landing area. He passed the Vehicons and heard many of them talking. Onslaught heard them saying something along the lines that Misfire actually manage to hit something, but that was impossible. It probably was just a rumor.

He arrived at a door and head outside. Dabola was a alright planet to live on. It was mostly tropical forest that the Decepticons had to cut down. The landing area was a large, rectangular strip of land. It was closed off with a giant metal fenced that was electrified and had guard towers at each corner. Most of the time, it was a barren area. They only had one ship in the area. It was a large ship whose primary function was to serve as a cargo holder. The rest of the area had nothing, leaving a lot of room for visiting ships, like Swindle's.

Onslaught walked out there, wondering what the slag to say to Swindle. It's been a couple of vorns since they last spoke. He had been trying to keeping track of Swindle, along with the rest of the Combaticons. He was, at least according to what he had gather, arms dealing still, selling to the highest bidder. Didn't surprise him much. He's always been a salesbot. Slag, he even named his ship 'The Merchant.'

Blast Off was still sniping. He was serving mostly to the Decepticons, although he's started taking assassination contracts from neutral bots on other neutral bots. Once again, didn't surprise onslaught much. Blast Off was always someone who prefer to take someone out from a distance and treated everybody roughly the same way.

Vortex was still insane, still interrogating poor, unfortunate souls, and was still executing the people he interrogated after they got the information, preferring to drop them from such a height that it would kill them on impact. No change there. Although, Onslaught has word that the DJD were interested in having Vortex in there rank. Vortex was insane, but was a loyal, insane person and that just happen to be right up there alley.

Brawl was, well, probably still one with the Allspark. Such is the price of war.

Onslaught looked up from the sky, breaking free from his thoughts. The ship was coming in. It descended quickly to the ground and stopped. Onslaught headed out to the ship, while also calling out for some Vehicons to get the stretchers. He was at the ship's door and was waiting for the door to open. It took some time before the door open and dropped the ramp, revealing Swindle.

The Vehicons had arrive at that time. Swindle ordered them to follow him and they follow him through the door, leaving Onslaught by himself. It didn't last long, as a couple of cycles later, the Vehicons stepped out of the, carrying Skywarp and Shockwave. Swindle waked down behind them and approached Onslaught. He stood by Onlaught as more Vehicons step out, many of them carrying the pieces of Thundercracker, along with Killshot limping slowly, following them to the base.

The two Combaticons stood there until Onslaught made a motion for Swindle to follow. "Come on," he said. "We're going to the Command room."

"Why?" Swindle asked, following him.

"So that you can explain to Megatron exactly what the frag happen."

**AN: Sorry it took awhile to post this. I'm currently still in shock at the ending of Prime. It was awesome.**


	16. Pilot: Plans and Dreams pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

**AN: Dialogue heavy chapter inbound. **

Swindle follow Onslaught to the command room, where Dead End was waiting for them. He was at the computer, typing some things in the computer. "I'm patching us to the Nemesis now, Onslaught," he said to Onslaught. Swindle was a bit worry right now. What will he said to Megatron? How do you explain that you sorta, kinda, maybe, responsible for the death of Thundercracker and the serious injury of Skywarp? It was his decision to go to Telos. Sure, Killshot and Skywarp goad him into going, but it was still his decision.

At least he couldn't blame him for Shockwave.

The screen on the wall came on the show Megatron. He looked… the same as he always does. Scary and intimidating. "Onslaught," he spoke "how was the mission by Thundercracker and Skywarp."

Onslaught looked at Megatron with the bravest face he could offer and said "I regret to inform that the mission ended up being a failure, lord." Megatron didn't look so happy at that. His scowled deepen.

"What happen?" he asked.

"Yes, please explain to me what happen to my trinemates," Starscream said, coming into view on the screen. He didn't look happy at the moment. He was about to get more angry.

"I regret to former you, Commander Starscream, that Thundercracker is dead and Skywarp is currently in surgery," Onslaught said, in the most sincere tone possible. Didn't change the outcome of what happen next.

"What! What do you mean! How did this happen!?" Starscream screamed at Onslaught wanting a answer.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question, but someone can," Onslaught said.

"Who?" Megatron asked, still speaking in a calm voice, despite the news.

"Swindle, lord," he said, indicating to Swindle to step forward. He obliged, stepping up a bit so Megatron could clearly see him. This wasn't the first time he had to talk with Megatron. Of course, most of those had to do with deals, what weapons Megatron want, how much, etc…, but he never had to give a debrief of a mission before. Especially one that went as badly as this before.

"Hey, lord Megatron," Swindle began casually.

"Swindle. Explain to use exactly what happen, now," Megatron order.

"Uh, yeah. You see, I was on Cybertron looking for stuff people left behind. Weapons, supplies, schematics, stuff like that. During that, I got a call from Shockwave. He wanted something and I just so happen to have it and decided to meet him there."

"How long ago was this?" Megatron asked.

"Last solar cycle, lord."

"Continue."

"Yeah, well, next solar cycle, today, we reached Shockwave only to find it abandon. No one was there."

"That would be mine doing," Starscream said, in a calmer voice than before, but still notably pissed. "Since Shockwave was dead, I decided to get all the personal to serve on our ship. He wasn't going to use them anymore."

"Actually, he isn't."

"What?" Megatron asked, looking at Starscream with the best evil eye he could manage.

"It wasn't like he was perfectly fine. We found him in some rubble and got him out. He had some burn marks on him and his optic was broken, but he was still alive."

"So, Shockwave still lives?" Megatron asked.

"Yes, lord," Onslaught said. "He should be in surgery along with Skywarp. He isn't in worst condition than him, but he's still in bad shape."

"Alright, so I guess you weren't completely lying Starscream, but you still should've check to make sure he was alive. He could've died if Swindle hadn't find him." Megatron said. Swindle was surprise he hadn't done anything to bad yet. He expected him to be blowing up at Starscream at the moment. "So, when did you meet Starscream's trinemates?"

"As we were carrying him out," Swindle said until Megatron interrupted again.

"We?"

"Oh, yeah. My bodyguard, Killshot, was with me during the trip."

"Killshot. If I'm correct, he has one of the highest confirmed kill count amongst the snipers, second only to your fellow Combaticon, Blast Off."

"Yeah, that's him. He's still mad that someone's beating him. Anyway, we were carrying Shockwave out, when we met Thundercracker and Skywarp. Long story short, we got Shockwave to the med bay and was about to leave when Thundercracker noticed something. There was apparently another ship around the city of Telos, so, as captain of the ship, I decided that we should go there."

"And what happen?" Megatron asked.

"I honestly don't know. I was on the ship when everything was going down. Skywarp said that Thundercracker wasn't answering his comm., so I went there along with Skywarp and Killshot taking a different way. When I got there, I saw on the screen that Thundercracker was lying down on the ground, looking injure. Skywarp and Killshot got there and went to check him. Unfortunately, someone wire a bomb on Thundercracker to explode. The blast killed Thundercracker and injure Skywarp and Killshot."

"So, Thunderrcracker didn't even get the chance to die a honable death! Someone just strapped a bomb to him and blow him up!" Starscream said, in a slightly angrier voiced than earlier.

"Yeah. It wasn't over yet through. Soon after the explosion, a sniper started taking shots at Killshot. He got to cover and help me point out his position to me, after which, I use my blaster to blow up the building he was in. The building collapse, but I doubt in died that easily."

"Why?" Megatron asked.

"I think I saw a jet fly out of the building before it exploded. It fly out of there into the city before I could shoot the slagger, again. Anyway, after that we collected Thundercracker's remains and took Skywarp to the med bay and then flew out of there. That's the end of the story."

"Do you have any idea who did this? What he looked like or anything?" Megatron asked.

"No. The only thing I got was that he might've been a jet as a alt-mode. Skywarp could give you a better idea what he looks like. He found footage of him and downloaded it, but we can't use it yet, considering he's in surgery."

Megatron took all this information in. He knew he needed to take of this problem quickly. He was in a war with the Autobots and had no time to take care of this himself. He knew where Optimus Prime was and had to kill him. Someone else had to kill this miscreant. After a little bit of thinking, he decided on a course of action. "Swindle," he said. "I want you to find this person and kill him."

"Wait, what? Why me?" Swindle asked. Yeah, he made hate the guy who did these, but he didn't want to waste time going after him. There was money to be made and time spent not making money was not good for him.

"Because, you've encountered him and remain unharmed. You have a great deal of weapons and you have a vast information network. You'll have a much better time finding and killing him than most of the Decepticons," he said, giving off his reasons which kinda soothe Swindle's ego a little bit that Megatron actually held him with such regard. He was useful. "But, you won't be going alone. Onslaught!"

"Yes, lord?" Onslaught asked.

"Who's your best soldier?" Megatron asked.

"Dead End, lord" he said, indicating his second-in-command.

"Can you survive without him?"

"Yes. I believe we can. Why?" Onslaught asked, not liking where this was heading.

"He will be accompanying Swindle on this mission," Megatron said. The gloomy SIC looked up from the console at this. He was going on a mission with Swindle? Just great.

"Megatron," Starscream interrupted, "I asked that you let me go on this mission with them. This wretched thing killed m trinemate and I want him dead more than anybody else right now."

"Your request is noted Starscream, but I need you to help me finish off Optimus Prime. The death of the leader of the Autobots is more important at the moment than personal vengeance and if I figure out that you leave this ship to carry out your vengeance, than I will personally find you myself and kill you. Is that understood?" Megatron ordered.

Starscream looked at him before answering in a control voice, "Yes, lord Megatron."

"Good. You have your orders Swindle. I recommend carrying those out as soon as possible. The sooner this ends the better. I can't afford to waste my troops on anything except the war," he said, ending the connection. Dead End walked up to Swindle, who had a blank expression on his face. He obviously did not like the fact he was wasting his time going after the murderer, but orders were orders.

Onslaught decided to open a conversation with Swindle. "You're not going with just Dead End."

"Uh," he said, not quite understanding him.

"I'm giving you a couple of medics to go with you on this trip." Onslaught said.

"Why?"

"Because, I don't want you to die on this mission. You're going after a dangerous individual and I don't want you to end up dying. I can afford to spare two of my medics to help you." Onslaught said. Swindle was shocked. He really didn't expect that.

"Why?" Swindle asked.

"Because, I care about you. I care about all my men, especially you and the other Combaticons," Onslaught said, showing a sincere tone in his voice.

"Thanks, man," Swindle said, a little relieved that someone still cared for him. With the Decepticons, you don't exactly have many friends. They were just allies.

"Your, welcome." Onslaught said. "Dead End, I need you to informed Hook and Scavenger about the recent turn of events after the operation is done. They're going with you two."

"Yes sir," Dead End said, heading to the door and towards the med lab, leaving Swindle and Onslaught by themselves. Swindle looked at the door before heading to one of the chairs in the room. Onslaught followed him and sat in a chair next to him. The two just sat there silently, Swindle thinking about how he could finish this quickly and get back to dealing while Onslaught was wondering how Swindle been for the past while.

"So, Swindle," he began, "how've you been for the past couple of vorns."

"Fine, just fine. You look like you're doing fine, yourself, being the leading officer at a base."

"Yeah, I'd guess so." He they sat there in silence again. "So," and Onslaught broke it again, "need some supplies."

"Well, I'm going to need some more energon." Swindle said.

"Alright, I'll go inform the Vehicons and check on the others." Onslaught got up and left the room, leaving Swindle in silence.

Swindle was really hating today.


	17. Pilot: Plans and Dreams pt 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Hasbro does. I only own the plot and Killshot.**

Skywarp was walking around the city of Vos. The Decepticons had managed to take control of the city and would keep on going. The city was the second to fall and many more would join it soon, along with Kaon. It was a pretty ugly battle, but mostly for the Autobots. The Decepticons had managed to suffer very little causalities, while at least half the Autobots were killed and rest defeated.

Skywarp manage to kill about 10 of the Autobots, most were thanks to fact that he could fly and they could not. One Autobot actually manage to give him a run for money by forcing Skywarp into a position in which he had to fight him on the ground. He ambush him and probably would've killed him if it wasn't for his teleportation skills. He used it to avoid most of the damage he tried to inflict on him, except for a couple of well-placed hits when he was too busy showing off instead of actually taking him seriously. In the end, it end up with Skywarp shanking the guy in the back by teleporting behind him.

He was walking around the area, not really doing anything. According to others, they would soon be attacking the city of Tarn. He had already loaded up for the attack and was just waiting for the order. War was turning out to be pretty fun, and if things keep going as it does, the war would probably last a long time which meant more fun.

During his walking, he heard someone yelling for him. "Skywarp!" Skywarp turn around to see Thundercracker running towards him.

"What?" Skywarp asked. Thundercracker slowed down ca me to a stop near Skywarp.

"We're going to attack Tarn in a megacycle. Starscream is waiting for us. He has a plan to take it down."

"Alright, lead the way," Skywarp said, in a bit of an excited tone.

"This way," Thundercracker said, walking in the direction he was running from. Skywarp followed him with a bit of a spring of his step.

It was time for more violence.

XXX

"He's waking up."

"Don't let him wake up."

"Sedate him now."

"Sedating him now"

XXX

Skywarp was flying over Tarn. He was flying behind Thundercracker and Starscream. They had just taken down the leader of the Autobots here along with several other high-ranking officers here. The city was there now and there was nothing they could do to take it back. The three Trinemates knew this place well as they grew up here, albeit in different political circles. Skywarp was in the lower class, while Starscream and Thundercracker both were in the middle class, although with very different political influence.

The Autobots had retreated already and trine was heading to a rendezvous point at the center of the city. They city was a bit harder to win over than Vos, but still fall pretty easy, once again with heavy causality for the Autobots and little for the Decepticons. Together, the trine had killed more than fifty of the Autobots, with Starscream taking the leader and several others out with a well-placed shot with his missiles.

Starscream was bragging right now, and Skywarp really wanted to tell him to shut the frag up. Yeah, he had the plan to take out the defense of the city and killed the leader of it, but still, it was getting annoying. He decided to quell this aggression by talking to Thundercracker. "Hey, TC,?" he asked.

"Yes?" Thundercracker asked, in a calm tone, although Skywarp noted a hint of aggravation in his tone. Starscream was getting to him, too.

"What's the next city we're going to hit?" he asked.

"More than likely, the city of Helex, although that hasn't been confirmed yet. It's either that or Tesarus. Why?" Thundercracker asked.

"Just wondering. So what does Helax do, anyway?"

"I don't know. I only heard a few things about it. The only thing I know for certain is that a good amount of drugs come from that area, both legal and illegal. It's regarded as a drug capital and the Autobots had been really, really trying to take them down. If we liberate the city, the ruler of the drug trade there said he is willing to support us in the war effort by supplying us with medical drugs and giving us some firepower they manage to steal," Thundercracker said, giving a exaggerated sigh as he finished speaking. That was a lot to said.

"How much Autobots are going to be there?" he asked.

"Maybe about five-thousand. The Autobots haven't exactly gotten the wake-up call yet, and still haven't send reinforcement to the cities we're bordering."

"So it isn't going to be a difficult fight?" Skywarp asked.

"No. Not yet, but I imagine they will be soon. Be careful, Skywarp. The war is just beginning and I would really hate to see you die."

"What about old Screamer?" he asked.

"Eh, not as much." Skywarp chuckle a bit at that.

"What was that?" Starscream asked, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Nothing, Screamer." Skywarp said.

"It's _Starscream,_ not screamer." Starscream insisted back at the Skywarp.

"You're sure _Screamer_, because I hear a lot of people you'd been in the berth with said that you like it when they called you that."

"They do not! Shut up!"

"I heard you and Slipstream get in the berth a lot."

"No, we do not! Shut up, or I'll throw you in the brig when we get back."

"Alright… Screamer."

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

XXX

"He's waking up again."

"Frag, Scavenger! Sedate him again, now. Stronger dose this time."

"I'm doing it. I'm doing it."

"Stay calm Skywarp. Just go back to sleep now. You hear me. Just go back to sleep…

XXX

Skywarp was flying around the city of Helex, hiding from Starscream. Starscream had put him in the brig when they got back and release him when they were attacking Helex. Skywarp had repaid him for it by pushing him down a set of stairs. And they were very long, too.

He was flying between two buildings and then into the streets, which were littered with the corpses of Autobots and the occasional Decepticon. The Decepticons had completely rocked the Autobots, here. It was less of a battle and more of a massacre. The Decepticons attack them from all angles, while the drug ruler own men attacked from inside the city, setting off several bombs and severally weakening the Autobots forces at the battle.

Skywarp was just fine, but than a jet came into view. It was… Thundercracker, in his glorious blue self. Skywarp mentally cheer in happiness. "Skywarp, why do you enjoy pushing everyone down the steps so much?" Thundercracker asked.

"It's fun. Do I need another reason?" Skywarp said as if it was blatantly obvious.

"Actually, yes. Yes you do." Thundercracker said nonchalantly, flying with Skywarp.

"Oh, well, Starscream did throw me in the brig, so I decided to get payback."

"Which will get you throw right back in the brig. It also doesn't explain why you do it to everyone else, including _me_," he said, emphasizing that last part.

"Uhhh, it's fun. Do I seriously need any other explanation besides that."

"Skywarp, please think about the consequences of your action."

"I did. They all end with me laughing my bearing of, along with everyone else."

"Skywarp, how many of us have you push down the stairs." Skywarp thought about that hard. Really hard.

"I don't know. I lost count at 30."

"And how many of us have you pranked through other ways." Skywarp also had to think about that. When you prank so many people, you end up losing track over time.

"I don't know. I lost count at about a hundred."

"Guess what, Skywarp."

"What?"

"All those people are really going to want revenge on you."

"Hey, it's not my fault that people can't take a joke.

"Exactly who have you prank besides me and Starscream?"

"Well, there was this time I stole Bludgeon's sword…"

"That's a very stupid move Skywarp."

"Oh, and I pour paint on Buzzsaw, once."

"I repeat, very stupid."

"Also, I sort of hit on Flamewar a few times, although each time, she's threaten to kill me in more inventive ways. I think she likes me, though. She just afraid to admit it."

"…you're screw, Skywarp."

XXX

"We're going to attach the arms now and… is Skywarp back online now? Oh, for primus's sake, Scavenger, sedate again."

"Got it, Hook."

"Skywarp, please stay offline for the rest of the fragging procedure. Flatline is going to reattach the arm and you waking up in the middle of it would be very bad for your health. Now, go back to dreamland and stay there this time. ..

XXX

Skywarp was on the ground, holding his chassis. The Autobots had retreated, but one had manage to hit Skywarp in chassis, almost hitting the spark-chamber. Skywarp made a mental note to remember that slagger and give a very painful death later. Right now, he had to get medical help. He was losing energon and really needed the help.

Skywarp got up slowly and searching for a medic, the various cheering Decepticons completely ignoring him. He walked pass everyone, bumping into a few of them, but none of them caring. They just won, who cares about a seeker that about to be injure.

Apparently, someone did.

"Skywarp, are you alright?" said robot turn around to see Thundercracker walking towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, except for the hole in my chassis," Skywarp answer sarcastically. Thundercracker took note of the hole in his chest. That was going to be a problem.

"Come on," he said, "let me get you to a medic. I know where one is at." Thundercracker grab a hold of Skywarp and led him somewhere. Where, Skywarp didn't quite know. He was just walking with him. He was currently wondering why Thundercracker was helping him. He imagine Thundercracker to be a little less helpful than that, like most of the Decepticons and him.

"Hey TC. Why are you helping me?" Skywarp asked.

"Because I care about you, now shut up and let me get you to a medic." Thundercracker said. Skywarp was a little surprise about that.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I care about Starscream too and he cares about us too, believe it or not." That genuinely surprise Skywarp. Starscream showing a feeling but pride and arrogance. "I know it may not seem like it, but we're trinemates, and it's have to care about each other in order to work as a effective team. If we don't, we're just another causality of war, and that's the last thing any of us want." Huh, Skywarp didn't think of it that way.

"Hey, Thundercracker."

"What."

"Promise me that we'll get through this war together." That caught Thundercracker temporally off guard.

"Say that again."

"I said, promise me that we'll get through this war together," Skywarp repeated, sounding a bit out of it. He must've lost a lot of energon. Thundercracker figure the best way to get him to be quiet was to agree with him.

"Alright. I promise we'll get through to this together."

"You swear by Primus?"

"Yes, I swear by Primus."

"Good." Skywarp looked really tired now. "I really want to take a nap."

"And you will, after we get you to the medics. In fact, I see them now. Hook! Get your aft over here now. Skywarp didn't get much after that as everything turn into a haze and he slip into recharge mode.

And to think, Thundercracker lied to him.

**AN: Sorry it took so long to update this. I got really lazy. Also, rename the chapter title from before.**


	18. Pilot: Plans and Dreams pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plotline and my OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Killshot was waiting outside the med-bay. He was slouch on the wall, arms cross, trying to look badass. He was mostly failing, due to his leg; sort of put him in a awkward position with him shifting the leg to change position every few seconds. Most of the vehicons didn't notice though. They just walk past him, minding their own business. Killshot really wish that the medics would hurry up in there and treat him instead. Sure, Skywarp was in massive pain and Shockwave had been offline for a while, but his leg was really annoying him and he really wanted it fixed fast.

Killshot was considering if there was something else to do besides waiting. The base was big, so it probably had some entertainment. Maybe they had a shooting range, or better yet, a bar. That would really do good right now. Just sit back and drink some high-grade. Of course, the fact that bar being on a military was slim to none did cross his mind, it was still a worthy prospect to ask someone. Question was, who should he ask?

"Hey, loser!" Looked like someone came to instead. Killshot turn around to see a red and white jet walking towards him. The first thing Killshot notice was his scars. Honestly, he had more scars than most of the people he'd seen, but not quite the most. He personally knew a guy who got bombed three different times and still came out alive, though looking much uglier than he previous was. Judging from the scars on this unfortunate bastard, most of it came from close-corner fights with blades than explosion and gunfire like most people. Although, he did look familiar, he just couldn't remember where. He distinctly remembering him having a lot less scars than before. Immediately after that analysis, Killshot realize that the jet insulted him. That would not go unpunished.

"What do you want, slagger?" Killshot ask. If he was going to insult him, he would insult him back.

"Just wanted to know who in the pit you are, pinhead." Pinhead? Really? "I don't remember seeing you around before. Are you with that ship that came in?"

"Yeah, I'm with the ship, pit spawn." To be honest, he sort of looked liked a pit spawn. "I'm waiting for the docs in there to get done with the others so they can patch me up," he said, pointing to the part of his leg that looked like blue metal was hastily slapped on. "Got that from some… _dramatic_ events."

"Well, you are a grounder, so it was bound to happen." Oh, slag no, did he just made fun of his alt mode. "Who else is here?"

"Well, coward," people loved to call flyers that," there's Shockwave and Skywarp in there getting patch up; Swindle, who should be talking to that Onslaught guy; and Thundercracker, who should be pushing up lugnuts." The jet looked a little surprise at that.

"Wow. A lot of heavy hitters there, right fragger?" Fragger? He can certainly do better than that.

"You can say that again, slagbag." Not the best thing he's come up with. The jet looked at him a bit, before taking again.

"You know what, limpy," Oh, great, now he was making fun of his leg, "I like you. Names Misfire. Yours?" Oh look, he was being nice. Bleh.

"Names Killshot, assassin and bodyguard. Currently working with that aft, Swindle."

"Killshot? Not exactly a subtle nomenclature." Noma- what?

"Can you say that word again. I didn't quite understand that."

"Nomenclature. Say it with me. No-men-cla-ture. It means name." Seriously. They come up with words that big just to say name. What has language come to? Now that Killshot understand what he said, he thought about it. Alright, sure, Killshot wasn't exactly subtle, but it did get the point across.

"Well, it's not exactly my real name. My other name was definitely not a name for a assassin, so I switch it. Seriously, my other name is so stupid. Speaking of subtle names, Misfire? Really?" Having a name like Misfire wasn't exactly subtle either.

"Hey, it's the name everybody gives me. I can't even remember what I was called before. Doesn't really matter now, anyway," Misfire said, shrugging his shoulders. Well, that was awkward, but that's over, now onto the important question.

"Hey, Misfire, do you know if there's a bar here or at least a place where I can get some high-grade."

"Eh, if there's a bar here, no one told me about it and I haven't seen it. Although, could a secret place run by a vehicon. I mean, looked at them. It's obvious that there's planning something, and all good planners need a good drinking spot to wash away all your sorrows when you completely failed at your plan and you become the laughing stock of the place." Killshot looked at Misfire liked he seen an insane person or at least someone who had taken some drugs.

"Tell me, are you on anything?" Killshot asked. Misfire looked insulted at that.

"Me, take drugs. Are you kidding, of course I do." Well, that explains it. "Before this whole civil war thing broke out and everybody started slaughtering each other, I live a pretty erratic lifestyle. Drugs were the name of the game."

"You were a drug enforcer?"

"Nope. I was an actor." Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. That explains a whole lot. Actors were notorious for the amount of drugs they took. Killshot looked at him again and remember exactly where he knew him from.

"Weren't you the hero of the movie, 'The Guardians of Uraitahn.' You know, the movie about this guy who went to some places and punch out some weird god-thing that really wanted to destroy the universe or something like that." Misfire looked absolutely giddy at that.

"Yes, the movie about spiritual awesomeness and kick-aft action sequences. So many cool explosions and let me tell you, the romance interest was quite wonderful in the berth."

"Yeah, cool. Whatever," Killshot interjected. "I remember that movie for awesome music playing throughout. Some seriously cool riffs were playing throughout the whole thing. The pretty explosions help too."

"Oh, yeah, the music was pretty cool too. Also, whoever played the Hallifalacious deserve goal stars for holding his high-grade. He could hold it better than anyone else. Man, that was a glorious afterparty." Misfire looked away, deep in thought, remembering the afterparty. "So much high-grade involve in that, it would've probably thrown Primus under the table."

"Good that you have fond memories," a voice behind Misfire said. Misfire hastily turned around, and met the black and red Dead End, his gold face looking at him with a face that said 'I'm dead inside and you should be too.' His purple optics looked at the two before asking the question, "May I ask why you two are standing out here?"

"Oh, I'm just here talking to my new friend," Misfire said, tipping his head towards Killshot. Dead End looked at Killshot, both giving each other the best glare they can; Dead End giving the 'We're all going to die anyway' while Killshot gave his best 'I'll kill you' glare. Misfire looked at the two, wondering who was going to back down first. Finally, Killshot spoke.

"If you're wondering why I'm here, I came to get my leg checked up. Unfortunately, the more injure personal go first while I stay out here trying to ignore the dull pain coming from my leg. It's really annoying," Killshot said, ending his motive for being here.

"Good for you, I guess," Killshot said, shrugging his shoulders before walking towards the door. "I'm heading to talk to Hook and Scavenger. Onslaught's orders."

"Why?" asked Misfire, wondering what was he doing with his therapist, no matter how crappy he was.

"They're going on a mission with me, Swindle, and Killshot," Dead End said.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. What mission am I going with you two?" Killshot asked.

"We're going to figure out who killed Thundercracker and kill him. Megatron's orders. Now, if you excuse me." Dead End walked past the two and open the door to the med-bay and walked in, door closing behind him. Killshot looked at him while he left, taking in his word. He was going after some killer with Swindle, Dead End, and two other people he didn't know. Just great.

"So, it looks like you're going on a adventure." Killshot looked at Misfire. Well, guess he was.

"Yeah, probably be better than just watching Swindle deal. It was starting to get boring and I hate it when things get boring. Solving a murder is something I've never done before, so this might be interesting."

"Man, I want to solve a murder. It be just that time I was a detective in the gritty film noir 'Seamless Clarity.' Man, that was a fun one."

"Yeah, sure whatever." Killshot looked at Misfire again before realizing something. "Hey, weren't you on that soap opera, 'At the First Sign of Rust.'" Suddenly, Misfire looked him with a monotone expression.

"If you tell anyone about," Misfire said, in the most threatening, "I will murder you in your recharge state, chop you up into pieces, and bury your body, understand?" Killshot looked at Misfire with sudden fear. He really didn't expect that from him. Why did things have to escalate quicky?

"Yeah, sure man. Whatever." Misfire looked happy at that.

"Good decision, my friend." Killshot really hated the tone in his voice. Who the heck would get upset at the fact that they were on a fragging soap opera. Yeah, sure, it was probably stupid, cheesy, and all kinds of other bad words that could be use to describe it, but was it really worth murdering someone for?

"Yeah, say, exactly what drugs are you on?" Killshot asked, in a tensed tone.

"Oh, just some circuit boosters. Keeps me nice and alert," Misfire said, looking please.

"Where do you get the drugs at? Aren't they illegal on military bases."

"Oh, I get them from our resident chemist, Mixmaster. He makes all kinds of good stuff besides circuit boosters. Of course, I owe him some things in return, but it all works out well." Misfire said. "Said, you won't be telling anybody about this, right?"

"I won't tell a single soul about this." Killshot said. Just stick it out. Soon, you'll be away from the crazy person and chasing down a killer.

The door to the med-bay open. "I'm telling you, he's coming with us." Hook said, in annoyed tone, sounding like he said this before. "You know me Dead End. I am a artist and I don't settle for anything less than perfection."

"Yes, but-"

"No buts, it's final. Now get out before I kick you out myself." Dead End let out a sigh, knowing it was useless, before walking out, the door shutting behind him. Dead End looked at the two who had heard the conversation and approach them.

"What's up, Deady? How did Hook piss you off," Misfire said, looking at Dead End. Dead End let out a sign before answering.

"Misfire, get your stuff ready to go. You're coming with us."

"Wait, hold on. What did you just say?" Killshot ask, looking at Dead End with a bewilder expression.

"Hook is Misfire's psychologist and the only here capable of doing psychology. Since he can't leave Misfire behind, he's taking him with us, whether Onslaught likes it or not." Dead End say. Killshot looked at Misfire, who had a look of pure glee in his expression.

"You hear that, friend. We're going on a trip together. Won't this be fun?" Misfire said. Killshot looked at him, barely holding back of scream of rage.

Primus really hated him.


	19. Pilot: Sleep Shake pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot. Transformers belong to Hasbro.**

Waiting for Onslaught was boring. Very, very, _very_ boring. Swindle had to curb his boredom by counting up how much everything in the room was worth. The screens were big and clear and could easily bring in a couple thousand. The control panels were built quite well and looked very sturdy. He could probably bring a few hundred from each one.

And he did that for everything else in the room. And when he ran out, he counted how much the floor and roof cost. Unfortunately, this end up making him sleepy instead of keeping him up. Counting money sometimes could be the exact same thing as counting sheep sometimes. Counting how much every single bit of the floor and ceiling was worth was just like that. Eventually, he couldn't take it any longer and slip off into recharge, remembering.

XXX

**Many vorns ago.**

Swindle walk through the hallways, with Vortex beside him. Vortex was red and yellow, and his alt mode represented a helicopter. Vortex, at the moment, was telling Swindle about a recent interrogation. "And then, he went on and on about his family waiting for him when he got back home. Honestly, I was getting a little bit bored hearing him scream. I've had been doing it for nearly a whole megacycle and he was _still_ begging. I mean, come on, how long can one beg."

"Apparently, a long time," Swindle commented. "So, what happen next? Did you let him live or did you let him go, not that I don't already know what you did next," Swindle said, already knowing what Vortex did. Expecting a different ending to Vortex's interrogation was like asking Megatron to consider peace: it wasn't going to happen.

"Oh, I let him go. Hearing him scream all the way down made up for him begging to much." This is probably the point where one mentions Vortex method of interrogation: high-altitude flying while the victim was hanging onto a cable. "And when I found him, he was all smash up into many pieces. I'm pretty sure I found a lot of transmission fluid around the area." Typical day for Vortex. "So, why are we going to the command center?" Vortex ask, changing gears towards a new topic.

"I don't know," Swindle said, "you're the second-in-command, not me. You're suppose to be the one who knows what to do."

"Oh, yeah, your right. Hey, look, we're here." Sure enough, they were at the door. The two walk towards the door and it open up to let them in. In the room, there were several people. Blast Off and Brawl were standing near one of the corners, Brawl looking ready to punch something and Blast Off looking like he didn't care about anything, which was typical behavior of the two, and Onslaught was in the center of the room, planning something. Yep, normal day around here.

"Vortex. Swindle. Good, you're here," Onslaught said, addressing the tow new arrivals.

"Sorry we're a little late Ons. Someone here," he pointed to Swindle, "was trying to make a deal with Mixmaster about things."

"What?" Onslaught asked.

"Vortex, if you say anything about what I did, they won't find your body tomorrow," Swindle whisper to Vortex.

"About his paint job." Vortex lied, "I don't blame him either. I mean come on, purple and green? That goes together as well as Swindle and charity."

"I can agree to that." Swindle said, confirming Vortex's lie and his jab at him. Hey, Vortex wasn't lying.

"Well, next time, don't get distracted," Onslaught said, using his leader voice. "We got a important mission coming up."

"And what's that?" Swindle asked. Swindle, although not the biggest fan of getting shot at, was a fan of going to new places and seeing what he could loot. Before Onslaught could answer, Blast Off answered first.

"To Solaris." He said simply, bored. Onslaught gave the purple and brown con a look.

"And how did you know about that already?" Onslaught questioned.

"Word of mouth. Some people get too excited and just talk out loud so that everybody else can hear them." Onslaught looked at him for a little bit before speaking.

"I'll take your word for it. Now, does everybody know why Solaris is such a good place to target." No one answered. "Good. Then that means not everything from the meeting has been known, at least for us. Solaris is a big city and, as such, has a lot of things hiding in it. What is it we want, is only known to Megatron, but we do have a plan to take over the city.

"The main problem are the anti-air guns. Theirs dozens of them scour throughout the city, and will knock out anything in the air. If it flies, it dies. Their all situated at choke points and open areas, leaving them plenty of room to shoot them. If we want the city, we're going to have to take those out.

"The plan is to take a large amount of the troops on one side of the city with ground forces led by Motormaster and the rest of the Stunticons. We're planning on them to meet them with most of their forces so that we a small force, A.K.A. us, could go into this building." He pointed out a building on the map. "The problem with the anti-air guns is they are all hook up to one massive generator in this building. Take it out and the guns go down. Problem is, this generator was built to withstand any kind of damage from explosives."

"So how do we take it out if we can't destroy it?" Brawl, the dark green tank, asked.

"Swindle is the one for the answer to that," Onslaught answered.

"Huh?" Swindle spat out unintelligibly.

"You have something for this right? I told Megatron you did." Onslaught said.

"Uh, maybe. It's a prototype schematic for a bomb I found earlier. Instead of regular explosives, it's a EMP. It has a short distance, but more than enough to take out the generator. It's activated either remotely or manually, although why you have a manual switch for a EMP bomb is something I don't understand. It's basically the same as killing yourself if you activate it manually."

"Good. Once the anti-air tanks are down, we'll have air support led by Starscream to attack the city and then it would be only a matter of time before the city falls to us. Nice, quick, and clean. Any questions? No? Good. Rest up, we're going to attack the city tomorrow." With that, the meeting was done and everybody left, leaving Vortex to annoy Swindle.

"Hey, Stumpy," he said, using the nickname he personally give to Swindle due to his size difference when compared to everyone else, "what do you think of the mission."

"I don't know. Right now, I got a bomb to build."

"I thought you already build it?"

"I didn't. I said I had the prototype's schematics. I didn't say I'd build it, yet.

"Oh, well, sucks for you. Later." With that, Vortex left without another word, looking to stalk someone else for the time being. Swindle, now by himself thought about the mission. Sneak in, plant the bomb, leave, and activate it while looking cool (okay, the last part isn't really needed). Nice, quick, and simple. It should be a easy mission.

Unfortunately, that proved to be far from the truth.

XXX

"Swindle, wake up." Swindle optics snapped opening, looking straight into Onslaught's optics.

"I'm up. I'm up. I'm up. What is it?" Swindle asked, still a little sleepy.

"Well, you fell into recharge mode, for starters. How long has it been since you've recharge?" Onslaught asked.

"It's been a while," Swindle admitted. "Today's been a long, stressful day."

"You probably need to recharge for the rest of the day," Onslaught said, hoping Swindle would listen to his advice.

"Nah, I'm good. I've done worse. Did you just wake me up to check on me?"

"No, I didn't. I've been informed by Dead End that you're going to have another person joining you."

"Who?"

"Misfire."

"Misfire? Wasn't he one of the few survivors of Blackout's squad?"

"One of two. Him and Makeshift."

"Why is he joining my mission? Last thing I want is someone who can't ever shoot a gun." Swindle said. He really didn't want him on the ship.

"Because he happens to be one of the medics, Hook, patient. By patient, I mean for therapy." Onslaught said, pointing out the last part.

"Therapy? Now I really don't want him."

"You either take him, or your going on the trip without Hook and Scavenger, but with either Scalpel or Flatline. I highly recommend keeping them, considering I consider them the least likely to kill you during operations." Swindle took that last part in before picking an option. It really was a easy choice.

"Fine. Misfire can come, but he better not be a burden on this trip. I really don't need dead weight. So, how's everybody else?"

"Skywarp just got out of surgery. He's going to make it and, surprisingly, is expected to make a quick recovery."

"What about the missing arm?" Swindle asked.

"They used Thundercracker's arm to replace it. Thundercracker's arm actually sustained very little damage from the blast and was kept mostly intact."

"Wait, hold up. They use his recently deceased trinemates arm to replace it."

"Yeah. What else were they suppose to replace it with?"

"How about the spare seeker arms I have in my ship." Onslaught looked at him with a slightly disgusted face. "What can I say? Unlike most people, I take 'arms dealing' very literally.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Onslaught lied, clearly disgusted with it, "I'm just surprise you actually keep arms in your ship. Exactly what else is in your ship?" Onslaught asked, asking a really good question.

"Enough illegal stuff to probably sentence me to life in prison," Swindle said casually, as if it was normal to have that many illegal goods in one spot. "I probably have enough explosive to take out the whole Autobot army at its best."

"Alright, well, aside from Skywarp, Shockwave is being work on right and now, and then Killshot is next. Do you, by any chance, happen to have a spare eye for Shockwave?"

"Actually, yes I do," Swindle replied, Onslaught looking at him with a face that said 'you got to be kidding with me'. "You want it I'm guessing, so follow me." Swindle walk towards the door and head out. Onslaught looked at him as he went, noting that things do change quite a lot. Swindle had never sold body parts, last he check, which, to be honest, was a long time ago. Swindle probably just expanded his business as usual.

With that in mind, he followed Swindle out the door.


	20. Pilot: Sleep Shake pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers. I own my OCs and that's it.**

Killshot was limping around the hallways, passed all the Vehicons, wanting to be away from the menace, Misfire. Odds are, Misfire would just wait for him outside the med-bay, wanting to talk to his 'friend.' Personally, Killshot thought he should get fragged.

The base was huge, and easy to get lost in. His visor was helping to make sure he didn't walk to the same place he was already at, but didn't help in figuring out what was in front of him. The hallways started bleeding together, looking the same. One could probably get lost here for hours. Killshot finally decided to stop walking around like a idiot and see if he could find some way to entertain himself. He entered a random door into a room.

The room was well-lit and purple, a nice reprieve from the beige of the hallways. In the room, there were a lot of machines and vials. The thing that Killshot paid attention to the most was the walking green-and-purple paint job monstrosity working on the machines. Why the frag did Constructicons have such terrible paint job. They probably gave the fashion police spark-attacks just from looking at them.

Killshot paid attention to what the Constructicon looked like. He was a big one, definitely bigger than the other two that was in the med-bay. He seemed to be muttering to himself, too. The con was working on some chemicals, though didn't know what they were. He apparently hasn't seen him yet, which wasn't going to last much longer. "Hey, big guy. Who are you?" Mixmaster turned sharply at him.

"I could ask you the same question. Please, tell me, who are you and tell me why you entered my lab unannounced before I pour acid on you," said the con. Killshot guessed from his expression that he was very serious and decided to answer the question.

"Chill out. I'm part of the ship that entered a little while ago. The name's Killshot." Mixmaster looked please at that and went back to his work, ignoring him again. "So what is your name?" Killshot asked, wanting a answer.

"The name is Mixmaster. I'm the chemist around here. I'm responsible for all the drugs and explosives around here. I can also make your death look like a accident if you keep pestering me," Mixmaster answered, leaving the threat in the air.

"Alright, alright, I get it. So, where's the other Constructicons?" KIllshot asked, further pushing his luck.

"Hook and Scavenger are in the med-bay. Everybody else is on a different planet. Now, leave. I decided that of you keep annoying me anymore, I'll blow you up instead." Killshot took note of the anxious tone in his voice. He must not want to talk about it. Killshot, being Killshot, was interested in why and wanted to know, death threats be damn.

"Aren't you suppose to be together? Last I check, when you're all together, you can form into a awesome mech that can destroy everything in its path. And unlike other groups, like the Combaticons and Stunticons, all of your members are alive." Mixmaster send a death glare at him as he finished his sentenced. Killshot realize that he was probably in uncharted space with this topic.

"There was a… conflict between us." Mixmaster said, sounding like he had this conversation before. "Specifically, between Hook and Scrapper. Hook, being the egotistical person that he is, considered himself a better leader than Scrapper and wanted to be the leader. It got worse between the two and soon, we had to pick a side between the two. Scavenger sided with Hook because he was his assistant and I sided with him, because he allowed me to do some things that Scrapper didn't approve of. In the end, infighting between us got so bad; we had to be moved to different planets, hence why we're not together anymore," Mixmaster said, finishing his reason. "It's not exactly a secret why we broke up. You could just ask Hook or Scavenger. Don't know why you had to ask someone who just wants to be left alone."

"Hey, sorry man. Didn't know what happen between you guys," Killshot said, trying his best to sound sincere, ever though he wasn't. He really wasn't sorry for a lot of things.

"It's alright. You just annoyed me while I was doing my work which could blow up the whole base. You know, nothing important," Mixmaster said, sarcasm practically spewing out of his mouth.

"Hey, I said I was sorry. Besides, Hook and Scavenger are too busy doing surgery, so I couldn't exactly ask them anything," Killshot said, rationalizing everything he said. "Plus, I kinda just came in here by accident. Seriously, this place is huge."

"Well than, have you considering asking someone for directions for where you need to go? It would certainly avoid the conversation we're having right now." Mixmaster said, letting his annoyment with the sniper show itself.

"I wasn't looking for a place to go. Just checking the place out and trying to get away from Misfire." Mixmaster looked at him with a interested tone.

"And what did my assistant do to make you avoid him?"

"Besides the fact that he's not right in the head, he annoys me and I'm going to live with him for awhile. Primus must hate me for some reason."

"He's leaving?" Mixmaster asked, sounding actually a little sad.

"Yeah, along with Dead End, Hook, and Scavenger. We're going after some aft that mess with the wrong people," Killshot explain. He realized something. "Wait, did you said that Misfire was your assistant?"

"Yes , I did. He's my assistant due to a similar problem we both have."

"Let me guess: drug addiction," Killshot said. Mixmaster looked at him with a gaze that could melt ice.

"How did you figure that out?" he asked, in a surprise and angry tone.

"Misfire told me that he was on some circuit boosters. Figure you probably had the same problem," Killshot said.

"Yeah, well, I'm in one of my calmer moods. Haven't touch the syk for a while, although I'm sure I'll use it sooner or later," Mixmaster said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Syk? Isn't that ban by everyone, including the Decepticons," Killshot asked.

"Yes, it is, but what Megatron doesn't know won't hurt me. Onslaught had agree to help keep this quiet for me, along with Hook, Scavenger, and Misfire," Mixmaster explained. He looked at Killshot. "If you tell Megatron, I will make your death a accident, you understand that?"

"Yes," Killshot answered instantly.

"Good. I think it's time for you to go." With that, Mixmaster went back to his chemicals, not paying any more attention to his guest. Killshot, for his part, took his advice and left, heading for the med-bay. They had to be almost done with Shockwave.


	21. Pilot: Sleep Shake pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Shockwave was walking around his lab. He was hoping to do the usual: hypothesize, experiment, analysis, and (rarely) answers. Every now and then, he gets a prisoner to interrogate, or get supplies from someone. Just a normal, boring day.

But something was not right.

For starters, there wasn't a single vehicon around. That was very odd. They didn't do much. Just mostly hang around, help him with experiments, and do errands for him, but at least there was company and a sign that he wasn't alone.

He was very alone right now.

Another thing was the fact that he couldn't get a single person to answer his transmission. Everything had been met with static, static, and more static. No one answer. Not Megatron. Not Starscream. Not Soundwave. Not Swindle. Not everyone. That was less odd and more incredibly suspicious. The only way that could happen was if: A) all engage in a battle at once, which was highly unlikely, or B) someone was specifically jamming _his_ signal, which actually sounded likely.

One more reason was the fact that a lot of his stuff were missing. I don't just mean a misplaced scalpel. I'm talking the fact that most of his interrogation equipment, including his cortical patch, was missing, whole machines were gone, and his computer banks were completely erased. The fact that someone accomplished all of this without him knowing was shocking, since it was basically impossible. The vehicons should have stop them and warned him of any intruders, but they just weren't here. There were no signs of battle either, which just made the whole thing more strange.

Also, he has scorch marks all over him. How the slag did that happen, he didn't know, but he didn't feel anything. He had to have been caught in a explosion of some sort, he just didn't know any explosions he'd been in recently. Just one more thing to add to the pile of mysteries. Oh, and his optic was cracked too, limiting his vision. He was certainly madder at that than at the scorch marks.

Lastly, there were minor earthquakes going on. Not major ones, just minor ones. That's not the problem, though. The problem was that Cybertron was a METAL planet, not an EARTH planet, and thus, couldn't happen. Except they were. Honestly, a lot of strange things were happening that really shouldn't be possible.

Shockwave was walking through his lab, thinking how all of these happened, while trying to ignore the fact that his consoles were missing. They were bolted to the floor, and yet, no marks were there to indicate that it was there in the first place. Just one more thing to add to the implausibility of the place.

Shockwave try to figure out where to go. It's been what felt like vorns since he's been in this twisted place and he has no idea what's going on. He thought what who cause this. Autobots? Unlikely, considering they would have taken him prisoner instead of leaving him here. Other Decepticons? Also unlikely, considering what he would do to them once he found out who did it. Some random people who just came to annoy him? That, surprisingly, was starting to become the most likely, although still not a good chance of that happening.

Shockwave's mind started drifting to other things, specifically Cybertron. Yeah, everybody probably thinks he's a psychopath who cares for nothing except himself or Megatron, but Shockwave's first and primarily concern will always be Cybertron. If anybody says otherwise, they were people who didn't think things through completely about what he wants, or was a Autobot.

Cybertron was a dead planet and Shockwave would absolutely love to restore it to previous state. Cybertron was absolutely breathtaking at night. Stars filled the night sky and there moon, Luna-2, shown itself to the planet. There was a Luna-1, but that, for some odd reason, disappear without a trace.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought about a completely obvious solution to his escape: the door. Shockwave walked away from his lab through the hallway to the door. When he reached it, he pressed the button.

The door didn't move a single inch.

Shockwave groan in annoyance. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Everything had to go wrong and hinder his progress. He stood around the area trying to think of something to do. The more he stays her, the more he was sure he was in a purgatory of some sort.

The ground quaked harder than before.

Shockwave had another idea. He went to his interrogation/security room. There were cameras there and he could see exactly what happen. It might not help him escape, but it would help him figure out what exactly happen, if the footage was left untouched, of course. Or if the console was even there. He enters the room to see that … the console was still there!

Shockwave approached the console and activate it. He immediately head to the security footage. He saw multiple screens of his lab, showing the most important parts of the base. Shockwave pressed rewind on the console, watching himself go backward through the base. He saw himself go through the exact same motions he went through earlier. He watched himself until he reached the berth. As soon as he had hit the birth, the footage cut out hitting static, signifying the end of it.

Shockwave was really mad at that and another quake shook the building, making it slightly creak, but he didn't pay any attention to that. He was more focus on figuring out how to get out of this place or contacting somebody to get him out. He was really getting tired of this. It was becoming a hopeless situation.

He looked around his own prison. He noticed the room was dark, as to his own specification. All the screens were still there, but the some of the consoles were gone. His tools were all missing, except for the forceps. The walls were cracking due to the quakes and Shockwave imagine that if the quakes get worse, the building wouldn't last much longer.

Looking around the room allow him to notice something on the screens' reflection: his scorch marks were gone. Shockwave look at his arm, confirming it, although a little difficult due to his cracked vision. Now that was odd. You don't just magically heal like that, not without proper justification. Shockwave tried to think this through, looking for more answers.

Another quake shakes the building up, letting even more cracks show up and some even letting light in.

Shockwave couldn't think of a answer for this. For all logical purposes, it was fragging impossible. The only way this could be done was magic and last he checked, there wasn't any magic around here. He even checked the history of the base before he set up shop here. He wasn't disturbing a burial ground here, so no chance of that happening, which sounded stupid to Shockwave, since stuff like that was impossible. It just didn't happen.

Another quake hits, just as hard as the last.

Shockwave notice something peculiar. His vision was return to normal. No more cracks. This confuse Shockwave to no end. An optic fixing itself was impossible. The thought that it could fix itself was illogical. Everything that's happen here right now has just been illogical. Illogical, illogical, illogical, illogical…

Another quake shook the building, this one much harder than the others. Shockwave try to keep his balance, although. The cracks started spreading everywhere, pieces of the building falling off, letting a blinding light shine through. Shockwave looked around as the building cracked opened, letting more and more light in. So this was how he was going to die. By a impossible event in his own base. Shockwave wondered how illogical it was, but not for long, as the building completely fell apart, letting the bright light engulf him…

XXX

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Shockwave."


	22. Pilot: Complex Terms pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers. I own only the OC and plotline.**

It was all a dream. Just one big, long dream. Shockwave mentally groan to himself. Of course it was a dream. Everything that happened could only be possible in a dream. Why he didn't figure that out earlier, he didn't know.

He looked around. It looked like he was in a med-bay. Where this med-bay was, he didn't know. He looked around at the occupants of the room. There was two Constructicons, Hook and Scavenger if he remember correctly, two Combaticons, Onslaught and Swindle, a Stunticon, Dead End, two medics, Flatline and Scalpel, and a seeker on another berth who had a lot of his purple paint job gone. Probably Skywarp, due to whatever left of the color of his paint job and his body shape.

He looked at himself. His paint job was definitely not in the best of shape. A lot of it was scorch off by burn wounds. Judging by the fact that he's not in pain, they must've handle whatever damage happen to him. That or they turn off his pain processor. Aside from that, he looked good.

"Are you alright, Shockwave?" Onslaught asked. Shockwave thought that through for a second before answering.

"I am just fine." He looked around the room. "Where is this place located?" he asked.

"You're on Dabola, not too far from Cybertron," Onslaught answer.

"Why am I here?" Shockwave asked.

"Swindle over here found you injure at your base. You had several burn wounds and a crack optic, which Flatline, Hook, Scavenger, and Scalpel fixed." Onslaught looked at Shockwave. "Tell me, how did you get injure?"

Shockwave wondered about that? How did he get injure? Suddenly, it came to him. "Starscream let the prisoners escape and I tried to pursue them through the space bridge. I was awarded with a shot to my optic from the femme, Arcee. After that, I was caught in the explosion from the space bridge," Shockwave answered.

"Good that you remember that". He turned to Flatline. "How long before Shockwave is completely rested?"

"My guess, shouldn't take more than a couple of Megacycles. After that, he should be good enough to walk around."

"Good. I'll go tell Megatron what Shockwave said." With that Onslaught followed by Dead End, headed out of the room. The door open, where they nearly crashed into someone else.

"Head, watch it!" Killshot said, barely avoiding him.

"Sorry," Onslaught apolgized, and headed towards the command center quickly with Dead End, leaving Killshot behind at the Med-bay. Killshot look at the room, taking note of the fact that the medics were not working on anybody at the moment and that Shockwave was actually awake.

"So, I'm guessing your done with everybody else. Can you check me up now?"

"Yes, we can," Hook said. "Just let me ask a question. Have you any serious diseases, injuries, or surgeries before that I should be aware of?"

"Not that I know of," Killshot said, casually.

"Actually," Swindle said, "That's not true. The guy doesn't have a T-cog."

"He doesn't have a T-cog," Hook said, parroting Swindle's words. "Why does he not have a T-cog?" Killshot provided the answer.

"Um, probably because I'm a part of Triple M," Killshot said.

"Triple M? You mean the Militant Monoform Movement?" Hook asked.

"Yeah, well, _technically _I'm a part of it. Long, personnel story that I really don't want to get into." Killshot said. Hook looked at him with a sign of disgust.

"Why would I help someone like you?" Hook asked.

"Oh, don't start that shapism scrap and look at my leg," Killshot commended in an angry tone. Hook looked at him before answering.

"Fine. Scavenger, fetch my stuff. I'll fix his leg." Scavenger did as he said, getting Hook's stuff and helped him looked at Killshot leg. While that was going on, Swindle was having a conversation with Shockwave.

"So, Shocky. How have you been," Swindle asked, using his most informal tone possible.

"I am fine, Swindle. What is it that you want?" Shockwave asked.

"Just came to tell you that your lab is completely trashed and probably would take a long time to finish." Shockwave looked at him with a interested glance.

"And why are you informing me of this."

"I'd just came to tell you that someone manage to save the data from your computer," Swindle said, in a casual tone. Shockwave looked at him with a evil optic. If looks could cause harm, Swindle would've been stabbed, blown up, and dipped in acid. Who knows what Shockwave could do with two optics. "I wonder how much that information costs to you." Shockwave's eye looked more furious. Swindle looked at Shockwave as the two stared each other down, the only noise coming from Hook and Killshot's bickering ("Ow, son of a glitch." "Calm done. It didn't hurt that much." "You did that on purpose." "Maybe."). The stare at each other before Shockwave asked the question.

"What do you want?" Shockwave asked.

"A hundred thousand shaxies, for starters. We'll work our way up from there." Shockwave looked at him with a evil looked.

"I don't have that much money, Swindle. Is there another way to get my information back?" Swindle thought that through. If Shockwave couldn't pay him, then what else could he helped him with.

Swindle had a idea.

"Here's a idea. Megatron gave me a assignment to hunt down this guy who's majorly ticked him off, along with Starscream, and I figure maybe you could help me out." Shockwave thought that through. Go on a mission away from Cybertron? That was definitely something he didn't want to do.

"What if you're lying to me?" Shockwave's asked.

"Shocky, I didn't. Trust me," Swindle said in best salescon voice. "I erased that data before I left and the only way to get it is with my head. Which reminds me, if you're going on this trip, no cortical patch unless we keep it in a area only I can access; don't want you sifting through my head." Shockwave thought this through. Swindle, as much as he hated him at this moment, had him by the bearings. "You know, we're probably making a lot stops while tracking this guys down. You could probably get some data along with your current one. That could help out with whatever you researching." Swindle was really convincing right now. IT's was true though. Studying other planets could help him revive Cybertron, along with helping the Decepticon cause.

"If I say no?" Shockwave asked.

"Then I'm afraid this information will be completely useless to me and I will delete from the memory banks, completely destroying any chance you have of seeing that data again." Swindle said, in the most casual tone possible, all with a smile on his face. Shockwave really wanted to shoot that smug grin. Truth was, Swindle forgot to delete the data at the base, but Shockwave didn't need to know that. "Come on. It's a double win scenario. You get your information back and more data to go along with it, and I get reliable help to take this guy down. I'll even make you Second-in-command of the ship along with a lab. Come on, I don't think I've ever given a deal as good as this before." Swindle said.

Shockwave thought this through. When the mission was done, he would get a whole new set of information from this, along with his old one. Swindle was even offering him a lab on the ship. If you know Swindle, you would realize that a deal like that doesn't happen often. Shockwave thought this through thoroughly before sticking out his hand. "I accept." Swindle look at his hand before shaking it.

"Pleasure doing business with you."


	23. Pilot: Complex Terms pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Dead End looked on at the conversation between Onslaught and Megatron with a uninterested look. Megatron was please at the fact that Shockwave was alright, but was glaring at Starscream for his incompetence. Starscream wasn't paying attention to him or to the conversation. He must've still been mad over Thundercracker's demise. Onslaught still had his calm face as he talk to Megatron, which was good, considering most people who talk to Megatron at least looked nervous. Honestly, the whole conversation was going good.

Than Swindle walked in…

"Hey lord Megatron," Swindle said, in his ever so casual tone, "got some news for you."

"What?" Megatron asked in his ever so impatient tone.

"Shockwave is coming with me on my hunt for the people who killed Thundercracker," Swindle said, completely calm and casual. Megatron, on the other hand, looked surprise.

"And just how did you manage to convince Shockwave to go with you? Shockwave hasn't left Cybertron even after it died 70 million years ago."

"Simple. I convince that the best way to find solutions to returning Cybertron to its normal state was to look at other planets. Since it's really hard to explore other planets from a dead world, I convince him that flying with me would be the best way to find a solution for Cybertron," Swindle said, saying a mouth full. Megatron looked at him oddly before returning to his normal scowling visage.

"Alright, you gave why Shockwave would go with you, but why do you want him? I highly doubt you're doing this out of the bottom of your spark," Megatron asked.

"Simple. I need a scientist, just in case I need one for my trip. You never know what you're going to fine so I tried to prepare myself for everything." Swindle explained.

"Alright. You made your point. When exactly are you leaving for your mission?" Megatron asked.

"Probably tomorrow. I've got to make room in my ship for everyone else before we leave and make a place good enough for a lab for Shockwave. Which reminds me, Onslaught, can I use some of your Vehicons? I need them to move stuff around on the ship." Swindle asked.

"Sure. Dead End will you to the lounge area where they're probably some resting."

"You have a lounge?" Swindle asked.

"It's to increase morale around here." And to slack off and waste the day away if things got boring. "Dead End, lead Swindle to the lounge." Dead End merely nodded his head and signal to Swindle to follow him. Swindle followed him out of the room without a word, leaving Onslaught with Megatron.

The two walk through the hallway silently. Swindle really didn't want to talk with a guy who was mostly pessimistic and Dead End was brooding to himself. The two were just fine to leave it at silence, so they just strolled through the hallways.

Unfortunately for them, they run into Misfire.

"Hey, Dead End! Who's that?" Misfire yelled, walking towards them. Dead End and Swindle kept walking.

"This is Swindle. He's the captain of the ship we're flying on," Dead End said.

"Oh, really?" Misfire said, catching up to them. Swindle responded to him.

"Yes, really. It's outside if you want to see it, but no going inside until we leave unless I'm with you."

"Why?"

"Because, knowing you, you'll find some way to damage it and hurt the resale value of it. You know what? Don't even carry a gun in shooting distance of the ship, either. I don't want to buff out any scorch marks on it."

"Oh, okay," Misfire said, keeping quiet for a little bit. "Said," now he was speaking again, "where are you guys going."

"To the lounge," Dead End answered. Misfire momentarily stopped in step before walking again.

"We have a lounge?" Misfire asked.

"That's what I said," Swindle said.

"Yes, we have a lounge," Dead End answer. "If you look at the map we put into your berthing room, you would know that."

"We have a map, too?" Misfire asked yet another question.

"Yes," Dead End said, sounding exhausted. Talking to Misfire was frustrating. "If you weren't hop up all drugs on the time, you would know that."

"You should try some, Deady. You're always walking around with either a sad face or a bored face. Come on, I've got things that will liven you up a bit."

"No," Dead End replied swiftly.

"Come on. You need some. I'll even make some myself," Misfire said, really wanting to make Dead End happy. Before Dead End could reply, Swindle asked a question.

"You can make drugs?" Swindle asked. That was very interesting to him.

"Yeah, and not just the illegal stuff. I can also make stuff like painkillers and sedatives. You know, medicine." Look like Misfire could be useful for something.

"Where did you find the time to learn how to make them?" Swindle asked.

"Mixmaster, taught me. His reason was, and I quote, 'so you will stop bothering me about the next hit.'"

"Well than, Misfire. I got a idea. I got a lab on the ship that you could use." Swindle said.

"Really? Nice."

"But, there's a catch."

"Aw, come on," Misfire groaned, sounding like a child.

"I only have one lab on the ship…"

"And, so what. You don't have any more scientist on the ship, right?"

"You haven't heard? Shockwave coming on the trip and you're going to have to share the lab with him.

"What, really? Oh, slag me."

"I hate to interrupt," Dead End said, "but we're at the lounge." Turns out, he was correct. The door was open which let them look into the blue room. The room was well lit and several of the Vehicons were lounging about, idly talking to each other. The group head to a group of 8 Vehicons. Dead End opened up the conversation.

"Excuse me; I need all of you to come with us. We're organizing a ship and we're going to need a extra set of hands to move stuff around." The Vehicons look at each other before they all got up. With that, they all walked to the exit, except Misfire.

"Hey, Misfire. You're coming," Swindle asked.

"Nah, I'm think I'm just going to stay here," Misfire said in a depressing tone.

"Alright," Swindle said, and walked out of the room along with Dead End and the Vehicons. Misfire stood still, thinking about working in the same lab with Shockwave. He's heard rumors about him. Rumors that would make any Con leak a little. Misfire took all this in with bravely and said a single phrase that tell how he was.

"I'm screw."


	24. Pilot: Complex Terms pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Scavenger looked around the room. Shockwave was laying on his berth, looking around the room. Killshot was also laying on his berth, his wound patch up, looking at Shockwave. Flatline was on a computer, looking at data. Hook and Scalpel were out of the room, somewhere. Skywarp was still on his berth, laying still.

It was pretty boring.

He looked at Killshot, who was observing Shockwave, who was observing Flatline. Killshot was obviously tense around Shockwave. He had a distinctive look on his face that said, "Don't get near me." He could also slightly hear music from his headphones. It sounded erratic.

Shockwave was looking at Flatline. Scavenger couldn't tell what he was thinking, due to the fact that, aside from a single, red eye, he had no face. Shockwave switch his attention to Killshot, which cause his face to scrunch up. Silent warfare was happening between them. One that Shockwave didn't notice as his attention went to Flatline. Obviously, Shockwave didn't care about him.

"Look at the two idiots." Scavenger looked at the person that said that, Skywarp's inert form. "The two are going to get along real well," Skywarp's form said, his mouth not moving, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I don't think so," Scavenger replied back, completely missing the sarcasm.

"You're not very bright, are you?" Skywarp said, still not moving.

"I'm good enough to be a medical assistant…"

"For someone who only tolerates you," Skywarp said, his voice sounding a little deep.

"Well, me and him don't get along, but we respect each other." Scavenger said, voice getting tense.

"You're sure?"

"Yes," Scavenger answer quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly.

"Then you're an idiot. A very pathetic idiot. Or lying. You could be lying."

"I'm not lying!" Scavenger yelled, before quickly shutting his mouth. He looked around him. Flatline looked away from his work to briefly look at him before turning back, Shockwave was looking at him with what a interested glance (at least it looked interested. Not a whole lot you can do with one eye.), and Killshot looked at him with a bewilder expression. Scavenger looked at them before saying, "I'm not lying about, doing nothing. I'm just looking over Skywarp," ending it with a nervous chuckle. The two still looked at him.

"Don't mind him," Flatline said, still on the computer, a little bored. "He does this sometimes. Best to just ignored him and carry on with sulking about doing nothing." Killshot and Shockwave looked at Scavenger for a little longer before turning their attention to each other, engaging in silent conversation (or silent death threats, if Killshot's glares were anything to go by) and leaving Scavenger all by his pathetic self. Scavenger mentally gave Flatline a thank you before looking at Skywarp's still inert form.

"You should really keep your voice down," Skywarp's form said.

"Screw you," Scavenger whispered, a tiny bit of venom creeping into his voice.

"Aw, someone's a little upset."

"Shut up."

"You know, you didn't deny the part about being a pathetic idiot."

"You're nothing, but a lying jerk."

"Oh, come on, is that the best insult you can come up with," Skywarp nonmoving form said, sounding amuse. "I've heard better insults from pacifists."

"Yeah, well, I'm not good at insults."

"Or anything, really. Unless you count 'being useless' as a skill."

"You're the worst person imaginable."

"I try." Scavenger said nothing in return to that. It was completely true. "Oh, come on. Talk to me. Everyone else doesn't talk to you, so come on. Even though I ridicule you on everything you do, I'm still the only one that talks to you on a regular basis." Well, that was kind of true.

"Yeah, I'm not really that good with making friends, but that may change on this mission we're going on. I might have the chance to make friends with some of them on the mission."

"Yeah, well two of them are standing in the room with you", he said, indicating Killshot and Shockwave, who were still looking at each other. Scavenger looked at them, then back to Skywarp's form.

"Well, I probably won't make friends with them, but I could strengthen my bond with Hook," Scavenger said, hope in his voice seeping through.

"Highly doubt that, which leads me to a question that I've already ask several times before. Why do you still follow that complete egocentric bastard. And don't walk around it this time. I want to hear the truth." Scavenger had been thinking that question over for a while. In truth he really still didn't know. "You don't know, do you?" Slaggit! He always had the ability to read what was going through his mind.

"No, I really don't know."

"Guess I should've figure that out before now. You're a complete idiot who can't make decisions." Scavenger looked at the stilled seeker form. He really hated this voice.

"You ask me why I should follow Hook, so tell me, why should I still listen you?"

"I already told you, idiot. It's because no one else will."

"Well then, I guess I'd better make some friends, because you suck." With that done, he turn around, leaving his back and his shovel-tail towards Skywarp's form.

"Come on, Scav, look at me. We're friends, honestly," the voice coax, trying to get Scavenger back on his good side. It didn't work, as Scavenger still had his back towards him. "Look, this isn't the first time you've done this and it definitely won't be the last. We both know how this will end: With you coming back to me and begging me to be your friend. So please, spare me the trouble and stop acting like such a brat. It makes things easier." The voice finished, his speech done.

Scavenger still didn't turn back towards the voice. Killshot and Shockwave looked up from their staring towards Scavenger, standing still with his back to Skywarp nonmoving body, crossing his body in a pout manner. "So," the voice asked, "will you talk to me." The voice waited patiently for his answer.

He got one.

Scavenger turn around suddenly and punch Skywarp still form in the face. And then did again. And again. And again. Flatline intervene, having to actually drag Scavenger away from Skywarp's body to prevent him from hurting him anymore than he already is. "Scavenger! What's wrong with you?!" Flatline asked. Killshot too got involve, getting up from his berth and helping Flatline subdue Scavenger, all the while shouting curses. Eventually, Scavenger calm down and Flatline and Killshot let go of him, but kept watched, waiting to see if Scavenger would go over the deep end again.

"Scavenger, I have a question," Killshot began, "have you ever consider talking to a therapist, because you are straight up crazy." Flatline gave him a killing gaze before addressing Scavenger in a nicer way.

"Scavenger, I agree with this con, whoever he is." Flatline said resulting a look from Killshot. "I recommend that you see Hook about your violent tendencies and your mental health. That was definitely unlike you.

"I'm fine. I'm just having a bad day," Scavenger said.

"It's about to get worse," said a voice. All three looked to see Skywarp getting off the table, energon dripping from his face. He looked _pissed_. "You're about to feel a lot of pain."

Skywarp lunged off the table towards Scavenger.


	25. Pilot: Carried Away pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC. Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

"…and that's why I don't do that kind of swag," Swindle said to Dead End, walking down the hallway of the base. They had just finish moving the items around in Swindle's ship to accommodate for more passenger and the Vehicons had all head back to the lounge to head back to the lounge while Dead End and Swindle were heading towards the command room to talk to Onslaught. Dead End looked like he was considering suicide a bit more seriously than usual, while Swindle had on his usual slag-eating grin.

"So, you don't give anything away for free, but you will sell illegal things," Dead End said, without a ounce of care in his voice, like he already knew this.

"Of course. All the time. If I don't, than someone else will and make money off of that. I got to cover all my angles."

"Is there anything you won't do?" Dead End asked. If he were to guess, probably not.

"Of course I do. Example, slave trading. Definitely something I don't do," Swindle said, a bit of hatred in his voice.

"May I ask why? It's definitely something I see you doing," Dead End said, actually interested in why he doesn't do slave trading (at least he sounded interested). This is a con that's willing to sell body parts that he got from dead people to make a profit. What was it about slave trading that was too low for him?

""I got several reasons to hate it. First, actually keeping the person alive costs money and resources. That can really eat up into my profits. Secondly, the traders themselves are completely deplorable people. They give honest businessmech like myself a bad name." Dead End scoffed at that one. "Third, and most importantly, it goes against my morals."

"It does?" Dead End asked, a little surprise. Since when did Swindle had morals?

"Yeah. I may be a murderer, arms dealer, etc. but I'm not a fan of slavery or anything like that. Back before the war started, I was against the whole caste system we had, much to the disappointment of my creator. He always disapproved of it."

"Why did he oppose you?"

"Simple. He was a senator." Oh. Dead End looked at him a bit oddly. Swindle took notice. "He was a major aft. Always went on tirades about the fact that the upper caste was superior and that the lower caste were meant to be used," Swindle said, ending his explanation.

"I'm guessing he's dead now," Dead End said.

"I don't know. Last time I saw him, I was sorta stealing his ship. He might be alive, although I doubt it. More than likely, he got ripped apart by another con like most of them did." Swindle said, without a bit of sadness in his voice.

"So, I'm guessing that his ship out there," He said, indicating Swindle's ship.

"Yep, the guy had a big enough ego to named it after himself. 'The Merchant.' What a prick. Good ship though, especially with all the upgrades. It's definitely the best thing I've ever gotten from him." Swindle said, a bit of happiness in his voice. He must really like that ship. He looked back at Dead End. "What about you?"

"Huh?" Dead End said, a little surprised.

"What about you? What brought you into the con you are now. A con only capable of the emotions of sadness and not-caring." Swindle asked.

"Why?"

"Give and take. You get information about me, I get information about you," Swindle explained. He did have a point, Dead End agreed. He got information about him, he might as well get information about him.

"Alright. I was created upper-middle-class to a couple of metallurgists in Ibex."

"Ibex? You mean the racing capital of Cybertron?" Swindle asked.

"Yes. That's the one. While there, I didn't make many friends. Most of the time, I was studying poetry at the local poetry club."

"A fan of poetry."

"Not as much as I used to be, but yes, I am a fan. As I was saying, I kept moistly to myself by hanging out at the poetry club. The only person from Ibex that I have semi-regular conversations with is Drag Strip."

"Drag Strip? Isn't he one of the Stunticon like you."

"Yes, he is. Me and him were the only one who knew each other before the Stunticons was form. Of course, we were very different. Drag Strip had one thing on his mind: winning. If he didn't win, he was bound to make a scene. Anyway, my creators were a fickle bunch and wanted me to solely study metallurgy. Back then, I was a disrespectful piece of slag who really didn't give a damn what my creators had to say. They ended up kicking me out."

"Ouch. What happen after that?"

"I hung out at the poetry club for a little while. After a little while, Drag Strip enter with a date. I later learn that he went to the poetry club with her on a dare form one of his friends. He had to get her in the berth with her before the day ended."

"How did that go?"

"Bad. She left during the middle of the date, calling him all kinds of nasty thing. Just for good measures, she stabbed him straight in the bearings with a knife."

"That must've been painful," Swindle said, with a look that had a look of sympathy. A mech should never be stabbed in the bearings.

"It was. I decided to help him out. At the time, we kind of knew each other, so I figure that if I help him, he would help me."

"And the fact that he was stabbed in the bearings."

"That too. I took him to the nearest hospital and had the doctors patch him up. Drag Strip thanked me by letting me stay at his place."

"Just like that?"

"Well, I had to appeal to his ego a little bit and explain the situation, but yeah, just like that."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing… hey, where in the pit are all the Vehicon running?" Swindle asked. Dead End looked up at them. A group of about 10 Vehicons were all running the opposite towards them. "Hey, idiots, stop!" Swindle yelled. The herd paid no attention to him and kept running, all of them pushing Swindle Dead End out of the way and onto the floor aalong with a sole Vehicon that trip. When the group was gone, Swindle, Dead End, and the Vehicon got up off the ground. "Well, there goes some of my retail value," Swindle said, examining the scratches on his body.

"Mine as well and I just buff myself too," Dead End said.

"You buff yourself?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"I prefer to look as good s possible when I died, thank you."

"Wow, I didn't know you were vain too." Swindle looked at the Vehicon, whose head was still ringing from the fall. "Hey, you. Why were you guys running?" The Vehicon (labeled TI-09) looked at him and answered.

"Skywarp. He woke up and just started fighting with Scavenger in the med-lab. The two are really going at it."

"Skywarp is already up?" Dead End said.

"Yeah, and I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here. I'm too insignificant to die!" With that, TI-22 ran away from the duo, transmission fluid running down his leg, probably to die a pointless death later on.

"Why is Skywarp already up?" Dead End asked out loud.

"And why is he beating the slag out of Scavenger?"Swindle asked.

"We better make sure that they don't kill each other, if they haven't already. Come on," Dead End said, non-caring, walking in an even pace towards the med-lab. Swindle stare for a little bit before shrugging his shoulders and following along.

"You've really lack the urge to care about anything except your paint job, have you?" Swindle asked.

"Probably," Dead End said, bored.

"So, what do you think happen in the med-lab."

"I don't know and we won't know until we get there, so asking those questions are pointless."

"Alright, alright." Swindle stayed quiet… for about 10 seconds. "So, what happen between you and Drag Strip?"

"Nothing much. He was staying at his own place. His creators were both dead so the place had been left to him. He put me in a spared bedroom and told me to clean up after himself. Believe it or not, he's probably one of the cleanest cons around. His place was immaculate."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Everything was in order and in place, although it lack a certain… personality. The place was more beige than these hallways," Dead End said, waving his hands around the hallway. The hallways were really beige, man. "So, me and him lived there with me reading stories and poetry and Drag Strip racing with his gang." They were nearing the med-lab, now.

"Gang?"

"Yes, a gang. They're two main gangs in Ibex: one led by Drag Strip and one led by a bot called Blurr. Simply saying the two hated each other was an understatement. The two gave each other death threats on a daily basis and both would beat the slag out of each other, resulting in more hospital visits for Drag Strip." Dead End stopped talking. They were here. The door opened silently and let them in to see the carnage.

"Wow, looked like we miss a really big fight," Swindle said. He was correct in his assessment to. The materials were stranded all over the rooms. Surgical equipment, broken glassware, various substances, etc. were laying about, with Flatline cleaning everything up, mumbling to himself. Shockwave was still laying on his berth, looking at the two newcomers.

"You don't know the half of it." Flatline said to them, sounding ticked. "Do you know how much all of this cost?" He said, indicating the substances and glassware spread about. The surgical tools, were left most intact.

"My guess, about 5,000 shanxies," Swindle said, quickly.

"Around that, yes." Flatline looked at him. "You have a good eye."

"Sort of comes with the job." He looked at Flatline. "So what happen between Scavenger and Skywarp?"

"Scavenger freak out and started beating Skywarp offline body for no reason. He just started punching him in the head until me and Killshot got him off. As we were scolding him, Skywarp just woke up, out of the blue, gave a pithy one-liner, and attacked him. We tried to stop him from causing anymore fighting, but in the middle of the struggle, he teleported him and Scavenger out of here. After that, Killshot decided to search for the two and left me here in the company of Shockwave," Flatline said, ending his explanation.

"Do you know where they go?" Dead End asked.

"I don't know. My guess, follow the carnage."

"Alright then, see you later Flatline."

"Yeah, whatever." With that, the two walk out of the room and back into the hallway.

"So, any idea where we should go?" Swindle asked.

"Not a single clue."

"Than what in the pit do we do to find them?" Luckily, that ended up answering itself very quickly. A certain vehicon ran down the hall nonstop, accidently running straight into… Swindle. "Son of a glitch!" Swindle yelled as they toppled onto the floor with the vehicon on top. The Vehicon got up immediately and tried to run, but Swindle wasn't having that. He quickly grabbed his ankle and tripped him back to the ground and immediately got on top of him and holding him down. While holding him down, Swindle looked at his number.

TI-22. Oh, great. This fragger again.

"Hey there again, idiot. How's it going? So, exactly where were you running from this time?" Swindle asked in a low toned. TI-09 responded exactly how any most would expect from him.

"The lounge! I don't know how they got there, but the lounge! Please let me go!" Swindle briefly consider threatening the poor vehicon a little longer, but decided against, letting the Vehicon go. The Vehicon gladly ran away, more transmission fluid running down his leg. Swindle looked at Dead End, who did absolutely except standing there.

"You could've help, you know," Swindle pointed out.

"You look like you were doing fine," Dead End replied., bored

"Well, because of that idiot, I now have fraggin transmission fluid all over me. Come on, let's head to the lounge and see if we can stop Scavenger and Skywarp from ripping the base apart. I don't want to have transmission fluid on me for nothing." Swindle ordered, heading off to the lounge. Dead End mearly shrug his shoulders and followed along.


	26. Pilot: Carried Away pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Misfire drank the fifth cube of high-grade. He was starting to get tipsy, but wasn't plaster yet. Primus know how the vehicon got high-grade, but he didn't care. He was just glad he got some. The vehicon didn't care either, as long as he paid for it. The price was a bit ridiculous (30 shanix a cube), but it was worth it. High-grade was the good stuff.

A lot of the vehicons around here were just talking to each other, gossiping about the latest event. Most of them were talking about the unexpected visitors. Some were mourning Thundercracker's death, some were talking about what they would buy from Swindle when they get a chance, and some were talking about how happy they were that Misfire was leaving.

The high-grade helped Misfire ignore the last part.

There were also entertainment, too. There was a television on every wall of the room and a couple hanging off the ceiling in the center. High quality, too. Television was still the primary form of watching entertainment, due to the fact that holovision was pretty expensive. A lot of it was Decepticon live morale videos, declaring themselves better the Autobots and explaining why. Some of it was BS, of course, but if it got the troops ready to kill any Autobots, than it didn't matter. Most of the videos were spoken in Megatron's voice, but every now and then, someone else would talk over the videos, usually Starscream (the slagger). Although, sometimes, Megatron's voice did sounded a little off.

Then again, you always hear them, never see them.

There was also some fights here, usually starting when a vehicon says something so blatently offensive, it gets another vehicon into a frenzy and attack the offender. Of course, some of it was just because they were bored and wanted to entertain themselves somehow. Sometimes they would expand into full on lounge fights (bar fights were so last millennium) that encompass the whole room. Unfortunately, the fights usually had fatalities and injuries, something that pissed off both Onslaught, for waste of troops, and the medics, for making them work more.

At least the blue room was good at hiding any spilled energon, whether it was spilled from cubes or bodies.

Misfire laid back in his chair, which lead to another point: the chairs were fragging confortable, whether they were flyers or not. They had to special order these from planet Nebulos, the most comfortable place to spend you retirement. Seriously, the chairs were so good. And so, Misfire laid back in his chair near the entrance, ignoring everybody, and drank the cube. Nothing could ruin today. Now, if only there was anybody intersesting to talk to.

"This sinkhole has a bar?" came a familiar voice. Misfire turned around a little slowly, the high-grade really getting to him. There was Killshot, looking around the area. He looked a little worst for wear, but couldn't hold back the smile on his face on the prospect of finding a bar.

"It's a looge…." Misfire coughed a little bit, trying to control himself. He was slurring his words. "Sorry, I meant a lounge. What's up?" he asked, keeping his mouth under control. Killshot looked at him with a look that said 'why me' and look around the area, looking for someone. Misfire also looked around the area, trying to figure out who he was looking for. When that fail, he decided to ask him. "Who you're looking for?"

"Scavenger and Skywarp," he answeded

"Skywarp's up. I thought he wasn't suppose to up until tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, you can thank Scavenger for that."

"Really? Slag. He must be really mad about Thundercracker. How did he wake up?"

"Yeah, he Scaveger punch Skywarp. In the face. Multiple times."

"Ouch! Why?"

"I really have no idea. I think he's probably insane. I heard him talking to himself before he punch him. Flatline said that wasn't unusual." A vehicon with transmission fluid leaking down his leg enter the room.

"It isn't." Killshot gave him a look. "Hey, I'm just saying. I've seen him talked to corpses before. So has Onslaught. It's not that much of a secret."

"Yeah, I wasn't here for that. Remember?"

"Oh, yeeeeaaaahhhhh. Forgot about that."

"Yeah. High-grade will do that to you. How much have you drank?"

"This," he drank the rest of the cube, "was the fifth cube." He laid the cube on the table. Killshot was impressed at that. Most mechs Misfire's size would be making sweet love to the ground by now. "So what happen after Skywarp woke up?"

"A fight happen between him and Scavenger. We tried to stop them, but Skywarp teleported them out of here before we could stop them."

"Ah, well, they're not here, as you can see. If they were, there would be a lounge fight by now."

"yeah, they're not here…" suddenly, a blue light appear above the two as Skywarp and Scavenger appear ad felled out of the together…. right on Misfire.

"Son of a glitch!" Misfire yelled, as he was crushed by the two fallers. At the same time, the vehicon that enter the room leak more transmission fluid and ran out of the room. They landed on top of Misfire, with the two breaking away from each other after they landed, with Scavenger still on top of Misfire and Skywarp rolled a little away from the two.

Killshot capitalize on the situation. He immediately ran up to Skywarp to restrain him. Skywarp was on the ground, backside up. He grabbed his arms and held them behind his back and avoiding the wings. Killshot expected at least of a little bit of a struggle, but instead felt nothing. Upon looking at Skywarp, he realized that he was offline.

Well now, that was easy.

"Ugh, can somebody help me get this guy off?" Killshot looked back at Misfire, who was struggling to get Scavenger off of him. Obviously, being drunk wasn't exactly helping him physically.

"Yeah, sure. Skywarp's offline right now. He isn't going to hurt anybody right now." Killshot walk over to Scavenger and Misfire. Scavenger had looked better. Energon was leaking out of his mouth and a gash on his head along with several dents on his body and he was offline too.. Killshot lifted him off of Misfire and set him up on a chair. He went back to see Misfire still wriggling on the ground. "So, are you going to get up?"

"I will once you get this guy off me." Wow, look like Killshot overestimate him. "You know, I think I like the floor. I'll just stay here for a little while, if you don't mind."

"Whatever."

"Great," Misfire said, as he went offline.

Well now, what to do now. Here he was with three offline Cons, and no idea what to do next. He looked around the area and notice something. There was energon dripping from the table. Looked like Scavenger hit his head pretty hard on the table as he fell down on Misfire.

The door opened behind him. He turn around to see Dead End and Swindle waking in. "Well now, look like you took care of him," Swindle said, indicating Skywarp's inert form.

"Wasn't me. He just teleported in here with Scavenger and was knock out when I checked him."

"That's fortunate," Swindle said as Dead End check on Misfire and Scavenger.

"What happen to these two?" he asked.

"Same thing happen to Scavenger. He was teleported here and knocked out when he hit his head on the table right here." He indicated the table where energon was dripping off of it. "As for Misfire, he couldn't hold his high-grade. Decided to take a nap on the floor."

"Well then, I guess that could've end worse." Swindle said.

"It did," said a voice behind him. Swindle turn around to see Onslaught, and he looked _pissed._

"Hey Onslaught. What happen?" Swindle asked, his voiced a little tense.

"These two," he indicated Scavenger and Skywarp, "interrupted my conversation with Megatron and Starscream when they teleported into the room and beat each other up. So someone tell me right now what the skag happen!"


	27. Pilot: Carried Away pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Everything else is owned by Hasbro.**

An hour later, everyone was in the command room facing Megatron and Starscream looming forms on the TV screen, sans vehicons and a few individuals. Skywarp and Scavenger were still offline and couldn't report in, Scalpel was watching over them and making sure they wouldn't kill each when they woke up, Mixmaster wasn't involve in anything and didn't come, Shockwave wasn't involve either and was in the med-lab helping Scalpel watch over the two, and Misfire was too drunk to wake up, let alone report in front of Megatron. Mixmaster analyze Misfire's high-grade and found trace amounts of sedatives in there. All of that together would make for one really bad hangover when he woke up.

Onslaught was standing over everybody, watching them, with Dead End beside him, really not caring about anything going on right now. Swindle was slouch up on the wall, looking slightly worried. Killshot was also slouch up on the wall, really wishing this meeting would hurry up. Flatline was standing up and watching everybody with a scowl on him. Hook was similar, watching everybody with a scowl that imprinted itself into there very soul, if they were paying attention to him. Hook, being Scavenger senior, was here in place of him to explain Scavenger actions, despite the fact he wasn't there for any of it and they ruined his recharge sleep.

They had just finished the story of how this all happen. Megatron frown was there the whole conversation while Starscream looked furious. Apparently hearing that his sole living trinemate getting the slag beat out of him didn't amuse him. How surprising.

Once the explanation was over, Starscream decided to ask some questions. "Hook!" By screaming. "Why did Scavenger attack Skywarp?!"

"I don't know. Maybe there's something defective in his processor or something. Maybe he hates looking at someone who has a face like yours," hook responded casually. Starscream gave him a death glare.

"Watch your mouth or I'll come over there and kill you myself," he hissed in a dangerous tone.

"I highly doubt that. You're far too much of a coward." Cue more death glares from Starscream.

"How did Skywarp get offline again?" he asked in a more calm tone.

"He overexerted himself. That, and using a teleported requires a lot of energon. I'm surprise he didn't go offline after the first time he warp, considering his state."

"Will he be alright?" he asked, a bit of concern in his voice. He actually care about somebody besides himself. That surprised Hook.

"Yes, yes, he'll be fine. He just needs a good recharge and a lot of energon. By tomorrow, he should be up and annoying everybody again."

"How about that assistant of yours. Please tell me he's going to die."

"Nope. He's perfectly fine except for a gash on his head. He'll be up by tomorrow as well," he said, unable to keep the smugness out his voice.

"Well than, good for you," Starscream said, sounding a little sad. Sadist. "Is there anything more about Skywarp's condition you can tell me?"

"Not that I know of." Starscream looked happy about that. "Of course, something could happen to him in his sleep." Starscream didn't look happy about that. "Relax. I'm just kidding. He's perfectly fine." Starscream looked annoyed.

"I'm heading to recharge. Today has been a long day." He said, leaving the screen to his room, leaving Megatron by himself on the screen. It was an unwritten rule among the Decepticons: if you can annoy Starscream, do it. With Starscream gone, that left Megatron on the screen looking at everybody.

"Is there anything else that needs to be said?" he asked. Nobody spoke up. "Than everybody go recharge," everybody started to leave, "except Swindle." Swindle paused in his step and turn around. Everybody else left, leaving Swindle behind with Onslaught and Dead End. Swindle walked up to the screen with them, keeping his optics on Megatron. Megatron could be a bit… unpredictable in how he handles things.

"Yes, Lord Megatron?" he asked.

"Just giving some advice. I highly recommend taking Skywarp with you on this mission."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious. You don't have any flyers on the team, aside from Misfire and he isn't a very good soldier." Scrap. Swindle hadn't really thought of that. "Also, I want to keep Starscream under control. Having someone he trust on the mission will keep him from going over there."

"What about the conflict between him and Scavenger. I'm sure having the two on the same ship won't be good."

"It doesn't matter. You need Skywarp. Keep the two in check however you have too and make sure they don't kill each other." Swindle put a hand to his head and took a deep intake. He had no choice.

"Fine."

"Good. When are you taking off?"

"If all goes well and no one attempts to kill each other (unlikely), tomorrow morning."

"Alright then. This meeting is over." With that, the screen blackout and left Swindle there by himself, thinking. So now he needed to convince a psychopathic stair-pusher into helping in join his mission. Shouldn't be too hard. He would do anything to get revenge on the bastard who killed his trinemate.

Jeez. Today has been a stressful day.

"Swindle." He turned around to Onslaught. "You need to recharge. You look exhausted."

"Oh, really. Thanks Captain Obvious. Flying around a planet, flying to another planet, watching someone get blown into pieces, organizing a ship for leaving, and getting transmission fluid on my finish didn't look tiring, but now that you mention it, I'm very tire. Thanks for your insightful deduction, oh wise leader," Swindle ranted, sounding pissed.

"Sorry Swindle. I don't blame you for being mad. Most people don't have so many things happen to them in a short period of time, but I think today has been stressful for everybody. We all need a good recharge." Onslaught said, trying to contain the situation.

"Yeah, I will, I soon as I get the transmission fluid off of me," Swindle said, calming down "I'm sure you've had worse days than me, making sure the idiots here don't kill each other."

"I've had many a stressful days here, but they're not cause by them. They're were cause by the small amount of Autobots here."

"There's Autobots here."

"Yeah. That's what the metal fence and guard towers are for."

"Any major problems with them."

"I only have one major problem: Prowl."

"Oh slag."

"Yeah, you can say that again. Other than him, there really isn't a problem. He may be a worthy opponent, but I'm better than him. It's only a matter of time before he slips up and I can take him out."

"Well, good luck on that. I'm going to get rid of this slag and then I'm going to recharge. Good night, Ons."

"Good night, Swindle."


	28. Pilot: Departure pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

The next day, Killshot was in the lounge, relaxing, sipping a nice cube of regular energon and listening to soft, atmospheric music. After all the stuff that happened yesterday, he needed it. Between gunfights, fistfights, and seekers, the day was a drag. But today's a new day and he decree that today would be relaxing day until Swindle made him leave (slagger).

There was also several vehicons in the room, most of them gossiping. Killshot wondered if they had anything better to do besides gossiping. Of course, one of them was doing something different. He was selling high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade to the Vehicons. Killshot briefly wondered how did one get high-grade, before forgetting about it. Today was relaxing day, not thinking hard day.

The door opened behind, prompting him to move his head ever so slightly to see who it was: Skywarp, looking decidedly more puple today. Must've been repainted. So, psycho seeker number one decided to come relax today. Or start a fight. He could be here for that too.

Skywarp looked around the room until he settled his optics on Killshot. He walked over to Killshot. Killshot mentally groaned to himself. He already had to deal with one insane seeker, he didn't want to have to deal with another. At least he wasn't going on the mission with him.

"I'm going on the mission with you." Fragging Primus.

"R-r-really?" Killshot stuttered.

"Yeah. Swindle told me he had direct orders from Megatron that I should be on this mission, although I don't have a problem with it. You're going after the slagger who killed Thundercracker, right?"

"Yeah, but why are you on this mission? Besides personal vengeance, of course."

"According to Swindle, he needed more flyers. The only other flyer was Misfire and I've heard enough about him to know that he sucks. I mean he _really_ sucks." Skywarp took a seat next to Killshot. "So, why are you here?"

"Huh?" Killshot asked.

"I say, why are you here. Are you great friends with Swindle or something?"

"Ah! Oh, that's hilarious," Killshot laughed. "I'm here because I'm Swindle bodyguard. Not because I'm friends with him or anything like that. I can barely stand him in the first place."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If I had to label the greediest individual in the universe, I would said Swindle, without question. From what I've seen, he would do anything to make money. Drugs, arms dealing, information dealing, etc, you get it. I've seen him do just about everything for money."

"Then why do you keep on working with him?"

"Do you know how useful it is working for a arms dealer. The guy pays me well and I get a slight discount at the store. A _very_ slight discount, but a discount nonetheless." Killshot gave Skywarp a looked. "So, how were you when you first woke up?" he asked.

"Angry. Very angry. I really wanted to smash that slagger, Scavenger, face in, but he wasn't around. Instead, that black medic, Flatline, was there. He gave me a list of things to not do while for a couple of days. He wouldn't tell me where that slagger was. Kinda wanted to break his head open at that." Skywarp remain silent at that.

"So, I'm guessing your mourning Thundercracker, right?" Killshot asked.

"Yeah, but I gotta keep my attention off him. I concentrated fully on killing that slagger who killed him, whoever he is. I'm going to rip out spark and force feed it to him," he hissed in a malevolent tone, holding his left arm out in front of him and clenching it tightly. It's at that moment that Killshot noticed something different about his arm: it was painted a deep shade of blue, sorta liked Thundercracker's….

Oh. Best to not ask questions about that.

At that moment, the door opened, letting in Swindle and Misfire. Why were the two together? "You're sure he's here?" Swindle asked, and, Killshot had noticed, still had Transmission fluid on his legs. Jeez, you think he would have the time to get that crap off him. Killshot also noticed that he was holding his Scatter Blaster in his hand instead of over his arm. He must be mad at somebody.

"Yeah, he's right over there," Misfire said, pointing his arm to the vehicon selling the grades and clenching his other hand over his head. He must be holding back a serious hangover. He left Swindle and took a chair next to Skywarp, while Swindle headed off towards the vehicon. Judging by the fact that he was walking without the smug smile he usually has, good things were not going to happen.

"Uh, what's up with Swindle?" Killshot asked Misfire in hushed tones.

"Quit talking so loud. You're giving me headaches," Misfire said before composing himself. "He think that one of the vehicons stole some of his high-grade from him while he was organizing the ships."

"Oh, scrap."

"What?"

"First rule in regards to Swindle, don't steal from him unless you've got a death wish."

Everyone looked at Swindle. It looked like he was engaged in a conversation with the vehicon (label Pb-82). The vehicon looked nervous, wringing his hand and shaking his head a little too much. The two continue the conversation for a little while. Suddenly, Swindle brought his gun up and aim it at the vehicon's face….

BANG

The shot rip through his head, obliterating his head. The headless corpse topple to the ground in a heap. Swindle walked up to the corpse and unloaded another shot into his chest, right where the spark chamber was, caving the chest in on itself. With that done, he grabbed the grades stuffed them in his chest compartment before walking over to the group hanging by the table. "Be ready. We're leaving in a megacycle," he informed them, before walking out of the room.

"Well, who's going to clean up the body?" Killshot asked the room.


	29. Pilot: Departure pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except OC. Everything else is owned by the bros at Hasbro.**

Scavenger was in Mixmaster's room with him and Hook, nursing a headache. It was not because of that voice that annoyed him so much, it was not because of Skywarp bashing his head in, and it was not because of that gash he got from hitting that table.

It was because of Hook berating him. Loudly.

"Do you know how idiotic that was?! Yeah, Skywarp is a aft, but still, he is infinitely better than you in combat! Starting a fight with him was asking for trouble."

"He was still offline when I punched him. I didn't mean to start a fight," Scavenger explained.

"Oh, so you punch him while he was offline? Yes, that's definitely better. Punch a helpless person who had just watch his trinemate die and had been seriously injure in the same explosion that killed his trinemate!" Hook exclaimed sarcastically.

"Wait, what!? What do you mean by that!?" Scavenger asked. He didn't hear about that part.

"Oh, didn't you. Onslaught announced to all the medics. Oh, wait. I forgot. You were busy chatting up with the corpses in the morgue. Since you weren't there, allowed me to explained: Thundercracker got blown to smithereens by the same bomb that hit Skywarp. Unfortunately for him, he didn't end up as lucky as Skywarp. He was completely rip apart by the bomb, cutting him apart into several pieces," Hook said, ending his explanation, leaving Scavenger to think that over. Scavenger, almost immediately, replied.

"I'd fragged up, big time."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Hook said venomously.

"What can I do? I mean, I just can't walk up to him and apologize. He'll rip me apart!"

"We'll figure something out, later. We got a mission and Skywarp's not coming with us, so you'll be fine."

"Are you two done?" Mixmaster asked. The two looked at him before Hook answered.

"Yes, I think we are."

"Good, because you two are annoying." They both didn't look too amused by that statement. "Look, this is a mission against a dangerous individual. You two need to work together instead of constantly fighting. Well, mostly Hook needs to stop fighting." Hook continued to look not amused.

"I don't need advice from a junkie. I got everything under control." Hook said, poking at Mixmaster's addiction problems. It was Mixmaster turn to be not amused.

"Hey, I've been trying to quit."

"But you always crawl back to it." Hook said, lashing out.

"It's not my fault!"

"Yes it is!"

"Both of you shut up!" Scavenger yelled at them. Both of them looked at Scavenger, surprised. Scavenger wasn't one to get angry. "Honestly, when did we get like this."

"I can name one specific person responsible," Mixmaster said, looking at Hook. Hook, obviously getting what he was implying, barked back.

"It wasn't my fault. It was Scrapper's fault. If he had just step down, this wouldn't had happen."

"He didn't need to step down. You just got a ego that's too hard to please."

Scavenger had enough of the two. He got off the bed and out the doorway, without the two noticing, right into Swindle. "Oh, hey Swindle," Scavenger said, timidly.

"Scavenger, great. I'd been wondering where you were. I'm guessing one of the voices in the room arguing is Hook, right."

"Yeah, Hook and Mixmaster."

"I'd tried looking for you in the Med-lab, accidentally ran into Flatline's personal testing room." Swindle shiver at that. "Don't go in there. That room easily cracks the top 20 creepiest places I've been too. Maybe even the top 10. Didn't know protoforms could be experimented on like that. Anyway, report to the ship. We should be leaving in half a megacycle. Dead End and Shockwave are already on the ship and the others should be there soon I'll go inform Hook for you."

"Yeah, that be fine."

"Oh, I don't know if you be inform yet, but Skywarp's coming on the mission." Scavenger's spark sink at that comment.

"R-r-really?" he barely managed to stutter out. The seeker whose face he beat in was going on the mission with him?

"Yep." Primus really hated him. "Look, I know you two have some problems with each other, but I'm sure we can leave that behind us, right?" Swindle asked.

"Maybe," Scavenger replied, really thinking that Skywarp was going to tear him apart. Swindle, for his part, could easily see he was lying.

"Hey, don't worry. I gave him specific orders not to attack you." Swindle said, lying without changing a tune.

"Really?"

"Yes, but I advise not going near him, all the same. Skywarp has a history for disobeying orders." Swindle said. Scavenger silently thought that through.

"Yeah, I guess I should that. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome." Swindle said. Sounds of violence erupted from the other room. Sounded like Hook and Mixmaster came to blows. "Great, just what I needed. Head to the ship, I'll keep your gestalt from killing each other and get Hook to the ship."

"Alright," Scavenger said, walking away from the room, accidentally bumping onto Misfire along the way.

"Hey, watch it!" Misfire yelled.

"Sorry," Scavenger replied and went on his way, leaving Misfire. Misfire looked at the constructicon before heading towards Mixmaster's where Swindle was just about to enter. Before entering, Swindle noticed Misfire.

"What are you here for?" Swindle asked.

"I came to talk to Mixmaster before we left."

"Yeah, well he's a bit busy at the moment."

"Is he?"

"He and Hook got in a fight. I'm about to break it up. Want to help?"

"They're fighting again?"

"This isn't the first?"

"Not by a long shot. Alright I'll help." Misfire said. Swindle nodded his head before opening the door to see how the fight was turning out. Right now, it wasn't looking good for Hook. Mixmaster was using his larger build to keep Hook back and grapple him when he could. Right now, Mixmaster had Hook and the ground with his arms behind the back and his foot on his back, keeping him secure. Hook was squirming under his grasp, trying to get out. Look like there won't be much intervention involve. "This is how they usually end up," Misfire quip.

"Well, I was expecting something much worse," Swindle said. "Mixmaster completely curb-stomp him."

"Will you two help me get this brute off me!?" Hook shouted at them. The two looked at each other.

"Mixmaster," Swindle began "as entertaining as this is, could you let him go. We need him." Mixmaster looked at the two before letting go. Hook immediately got up and walked away, staring daggers at Mixmaster. He approach Swindle and asked a question.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"We're about to leave. I need you to head to the ship and get ready."

"Alright," Hook said, before walking past the two and towards the ship. Swindle looked at him go before saying to Misfire:

"Make this talk quick, alright."

"You got it," Misfire said. Swindle nod his head and head off in the same direction as Hook, leaving Misfire and Mixmaster alone. "So, you and Hook got at it again," Misfire said, walking towards Mixmaster.

"Yeah. Don't worry. Hook didn't even scratch my paint job."

"Yeah. In a one-on-one fist fight, he really not that good. Especially compare to me," he said pumping his arm out in a embarrassing way.

"Yes, you are truly an imposing figure in close-combat. Now tell me: what do you want? "

"I just came to say good-bye and maybe shared one last hit with you." Mixmaster sigh at that sentence.

"Sorry, Misfire. I'm going to have to refuse. I've been trying to quit."

"Yeah, where's the stuff…. Say that again. I don't think I heard you correctly."

"I'm quitting, or at least I'm trying. Been clean for the last couple of deca-cycles. Sorry."

"Ah…" Misfire was silent at that. HE hadn't talk to Mixmaster in a while, so he really had no idea about this. "Why?" he asked.

"I've spent nearly this whole war on drugs. Now that we're nearing the end of this war, I thought I could try and change some bad habits."

"Yeah, okay, but why are stopping this good stuff we got going on?"

"Scrapper won't take me back until I stop taking this stuff. Once I get clean and join Scrapper, I figure that Hook will join up with us and we can be together again. I hope he'll listen to the majority instead of satisfying his ego."

"Ah, well, that sucks."

"Sorry, Misfire, but the Constructicons have got to be whole again. Being separated, well…. Let's just say it hasn't been good on the mind. You've seen what's happen to Scavenger, right?"

"Yeah, I've had."

"I'm doing this for the suck of the group, not for myself. I need to stop self-indulging myself and help the others. Do you understand?" Misfire stared at him mutely before answering.

"Yeah, I understand," he said, quietly.

"Good, than can you do me a favor?"

"What?" Mixmaster walk over to a corner of a room and took a big box. He walk over and hand it to Misfire. Compare to him, it was about half the size of his chest.

"That's the rest of the drugs I have, mostly syk. Do whatever you want to it. I don't care whether you use it or dispose of it, just as long as it's gone."

"You got it, Mix."

"Thank you, Misfire. Now, I believe you have a ship to get to."

"Oh, frag. You're right. Gotta go. Good luck with things here."

"Good luck to you too." Misfire walked out of the purple room into the beige hallways, heading down the same path the others went. While walking through the hallways, he silently considered what to do with the drugs. It didn't take long for him to decide what to do with them.

Find a nice room and use those babies.


	30. Pilot: Departure pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns everything else.**

On the bridge of the ship, Dead End and Shockwave were there, Dead End looking at the supply manifest and Shockwave looking at the files on the people coming on the mission for everybody except Swindle, who manage to have enough money to keep him from getting the file from Onslaught and even _Megatron._ Killshot's was from Swindle, Skywarp from Megatron and Starscream, and everybody else's from Onslaught.

Killshot, born in the assassin den of Telos, was well-known for the fact that he had the second-highest body of the snipers in the Decepticon ranks, losing to Blast Off. He was also well-known for being a bad loser. First thing he did when he heard that Blast Off beat him was to get involved in a massive brawl with twenty other vehicons. Said vehicons beat his aft due to overwhelming numbers. A good markscon, he is. A good fighter, he is not. He's supposedly gotten better about keeping bruise egos in check.

There's also the fact that he was a member of triple-M (Miltant Monoform Movement), a group known for not using T-cogs. The lack of a vehicle form will seriously hinder his mobility on the field. Shockwave wonder why one's whose best form of defense was speed would sacrifice his fastest form. The file doesn't specified why, just that he doesn't have one. Of course, he was still alive, which meant he knew how to take care of himself, vehicle form or no vehicle form.

Next, he looked at Skywarp. According to the reports, he was from Helex, a city populated mostly by the lower caste. The most remarkable thing about him was the teleporter that he was created with. Although not as book-smart as many others, he knows how to use the teleporter in his advantage in battles and his commanding officers knew how to use him in battle. Of course, the bad thing about the teleporter was that it used more energon than most things, require Skywarp to have more energon than most cons.

What do you know, here comes Killshot and Skywarp right now. "What's up?" Killshot asked Dead End . Dead End merely gave them an aside glance before answering back.

"Nothing important except for Skywarp's room. I want you to take him there. He's right across from you."

"Alright. Come on, Warp." Killshot and Skywarp left the bridge, leaving the two by themselves again. Shockwave looked at the next file.

Hook was created in Vos and serve as the second-in-command of the Constructicons and his vehicle form was a crane. However, he wanted to be the leader of the Constructicons and take control of it from the current leader Scrapper. However, unlike most people (like Starscream), Hook wanted to take it politically, by convincing everybody he would be a better leader. He got Scavenger and Mixmaster to back him up, but not Long Haul and Bonecrusher. What happen next, was pretty messy.

Scavenger was Hook medical's assistant and was also created in Vos. He's the youngest of them, being at least a million years younger than them and transform into a excavator, which explains why he has that weird shovel-tail. He has some serious self-esteem issue and reportedly has no friends among the Decepticons. He sided with Hook on the leader issue, presumably because Hook was his boss.

The two and the rest of the Constructicons were also voted the most fashionably challenge gestalt group. Apparently, purple and green were not well-liked by everybody.

Speaking of which, here comes Scavenger. "Hello, Scavenger," Dead End begin. "Your room is right next to the med-bay. Right side."

"Alright," Scavenger replied and then asked, "where's the med-bay?" Dead End handed him a chart.

"Follow the signs."

"Okay," Scavenger said and walked off towards. As the door open, Scavenger accidently walked into Hook, causing them to fall to the floor together. Hook let loose a mild curse before getting up and walking towards Dead End. Scavenger, for his part, got out of there quickly. Hook walked up to Dead End and asked the question.

"Where's my room?"

"Right next to the Med-bay. Left side. Follow the signs."

"Got it." With that, he head off towards his room, leaving Dead End and Shockwave alone again. Shockwave took a look at his next file: Misfire.

Misfire's personal life before the war was that of an actor and he experience every phase an actor goes through. The crappy, low budget movies to a career defying role, to falling hard due to drugs. He then got off drugs, won the critics and fans back, obtain many a star role, and then fall back to obscurity again when he got addicted to drugs again.

When the war came, his agent recommend joining the war to get some more experience. He joined the Decepticons and went to military camp to learn how to shoot a gun and got clean from drugs. He ended failing numerous times that they gave him the nickname, 'Misfire.' He finally passed on the 4628th time when the place was bombed, letting him (technically) passed.

From there, he went and joined a trine with two seekers name Slugslinger and Triggerhappy. The group reportedly did well, with Slugslinger and Triggerhappy making up for Misfire failings. Although Misfire was a complete failure with a gun, he could reportedly, obliterate anybody in close range. He didn't lose any brawls with other seekers and ground-pounders and most people he fought ended up reporting to the med-bay to be fixed up.

Unfortunately, tragedy would come again when he went on a mission with his trinemates and several other people led by Blackout. Reports are unsure. But Misfire ended up messing up badly and ended up causing the deaths of everybody except a shifter named Makeshift. Makeshift testify that Misfire caused the death of most of the people, with the evidence to exactly what Makeshift said. Megatron, in response, put Misfire through some of the most brutal torture imaginable. It's unsure why he left Misfire live after that, but most people are of the opinion that it was to teach a lesson to all the incompetence would not be tolerated and had Misfire used as walking proof of that.

With that info dump done, Shockwave looked at the door, expecting Misfire to show up. Indeed, the door opened, but to let Swindle in instead of Misfire. "Hey there, I'm guessing the others have already came aboard except Misfire, right?" he asked them, not caring who answered.

"Yes, they did, except Misfire liked you said. Is he coming?" Dead End asked.

"Yeah, he just had to talk a little bit with Mixmaster before we left. While we're waiting for him, I'm going to start up the ship for lift off," Swindle said, heading for the cockpit. With the conversation done, Shockwave looked at the last file: Dead End.

Before the war, he was in a street racing gang in Ibex that was headed by his fellow Stunticon, Drag Strip. When the war began, Drag Strip almost immediately sigh up to fight for the Decepticons and convince Dead End to fight in it as well. Soon after, they join a gestalt program and were called the Stunticons. Shockwave remember them as the second combiner group he worked on, first being the Combaticons. He remember that the group was perhaps the most dysfunctional group of soldiers ever and could barely get along with each other and we're barely kept in place by their abusive leader, Motormaster.

Unfortunately, the group would not last. On a mission, Motormaster fall in battle, to unknown circumstances. Some say he was bombed by the enemy. Some say he was shoot by the enemy. Some say he was shot by friendlies. None of those were too far off, but people didn't bother looking into it due to the fact that Motormaster was one of the most hated people in the army. Eventually, the Stunticons strike off on their own, Dead End ending up here. He was efficient in his work, due to the fact that he always expected the worst to happen. Bad at conversation, but good at his job.

The ship came to life, getiing ready to go. At the same time, the door opened, letting in Misfire, who was carrying a big box with him. "Hey guys. Anybody knows where my room is?" he asked.

"Right next to Science lab, left side. Shockwave here has the right side," Dead End answered. Misfire looked at Shockwave who stared at him with his single optic.

"So, I guess we're roommates, kinda," Misfire said. Shockwave responded by looking back at him with his emotionless (and terrifying, to a lot of people) stare. Misfire took a sharp intake and looked at Dead End. "You're sure you can't put me in a different room?"

"We put you there for convenience sake. You and Shockwave are both going to be using the Science Lab, so we figure we put you there for easy access. Swindle here hasn't made signs for the Science lab due to the fact that the lab was a very recent addition."

"That's putting it lightly," Swindle called back from the cockpit. "Do you know how much moving I had to do. I have a lot of room, so I have a lot of storage on the ship. With the inclusion of everybody on the ship, I had to make room and I'm telling you right now, I'm not moving stuff out of the room so you can get a room away from Shockwave. You understand that?"

"Anyway, wait a few minutes and I'll take you and Shockwave to the labs. Swindle's given me a short tour of this ship and given me a good idea where everything is on this ship."

"Trust me, Dead End. I didn't give you a full tour of this ship. This ship has a lot of neat surprises. Oh, by the way, we're going to depart right about… now," Swindle said. At that moment, the ship went up suddenly, causing a temporarily lost of balance for everybody, but they quickly regain it. The ship went up and head for space at a good pace, vertically. More than a couple of people thought gravity would bring a lot of people down, but they didn't move. "By the way, I got gravity generators, so don't worry about losing much balance aside from the initial take-off, which we've already experience," Swindle said. Soon, the ship broke the atmosphere of the planet and into space.

With them breaking through space, Swindle got on the intercom. Attention everybody aboard the ship, we've have completed our departure of Dabola and are now heading to Primus knows where. My advice is for you to get set up in your rooms. We've officially started our hunt for whoever this guy is that killed Thundercracker. Good luck." With that done he got off the intercom. He looked back at the crewmate on the bridge. "Just to let you guys know, I have no idea where we're going."

XXX

**Talos Four, Metalhawk Park, nighttime.**

Bombline was walking through the park to the meeting point. Cooldown and Warmup were at a local bar while he took care of the transaction. He was heading to a bench where a figure was sitting. The bench had no light shine on it, leaving only the figure's silhouette show. From what he could see, he difently didn't had wings. Bombline walked up to the figure and gave him a chip. "Here is all the information we got from the place that you want." The figure took it and examined it.

"Good, I trust you wouldn't lie to me."

"It's bad business to rip people off."

"Very true. 50,000 shanix will be added to your account. Tell me, did you ran into any trouble?"

"Yes, we did. Just a little bit. We killed one of them, but the others got away."

"I'm surprise. Nobody goes to Cybertron anymore." The figure contemplated this. "Exactly what was the ship called."

"I didn't get a good looked, due to the fact that it was trying to killed me, but I think it was called 'The Merchant.'" The figure gave a sharp intake at that.

"I know who that ship belongs too." The figure contemplated it for a little bit. "Tell me, how do you feel about earning an extra amount of money?"

"What, exactly and how much."

"I know the captain of that ship. His name is Swindle. What I want you to do is simple: find the ship and bring me Swindle. 250,000 shanix if alive, 100,000 if he's dead." Bombline let out a little laugh.

"You really want to take him down, do you."

"It's personal between me and him. So, you're going to take this job?" Bombline thought this through. 250,000 shanix was a lot of money. It shouldn't too hard, either, if he can find a way around that ship. With this through, he looked at the figure and answered.

"You got a deal."

**AN: Pilot's finally done. I can officially start Season 1. Thanks to all who read this far.**


	31. S1: Cortical pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Everyone was at the bridge, standing at the rectangular table in the middle of the room. Swindle stood at one end with his back to the cockpit. From his left, it was Dead End standing and waiting to see what the next orders was; Hook, who was looking at Skywarp at the other end of the table; and Scavenger, trying not to look at Skywarp. Shockwave was at Swindle's right, looking around at everybody; follow by Skywarp, who was counting Misfire's scars (34, 35, 36…); Misfire, counting Skywarp scars from his recent bombing (22, 23, 24…); and Kilshot rounding off the other end of the table, counting his own scars, (7, 8, 9, that's it! Oh, come on.).

"So, what do we know about this guy besides the fact that he's a flyer?" Swindle asked the room, mostly directed at Killshot and Skywarp.

"I don't know anything about him, except the fact that he likes bombs and really needs target practice with that sniper rifle of his," Killshot said, still checking himself to see if he has anymore scars.

"From what I saw on the security camera, the slagger was a seeker, colored black-and-red. Didn't wear a symbol on him," Skywarp said. Swindle stood looking at him, a bit startled. He completely forgot about the security cameras.

"Black and red? Maybe's he's related to Dead End," Killshot said.

"I doubt that," Dead End replied.

"Did you download the footage?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah, I did. I have a data bank in my arm, but that got blown off from the explosion." Swindle sighed in defeat. If they wanted a view of him, they would have to get it from Cybertron.

"What about your processor?" Shockwave questioned.

"Yeah, but only I can see it, unless you got something that could look in my thoughts." Skywarp said, dismissively.

"We do." Skywarp looked at him like he was kidding. "It called a cortical psychic patch. I can use it to examine your processor and extract an image from it."

"Is it dangerous?" Hook asked, with a little tone in his voice sounding like he wants it to be fatal.

"It can be if I want it to be, but for this experiment, no," Shockwave answered.

"Do you have one on you?" Swindle asked.

"No. It's back at my base on Cybertron, although if you have the supplies, I could make another one."

"What do you need?"

"Here's a list," he hand Swindle. A brief looked and Swindle almost fainted. That was going to take a pretty amount of money out of his bank and there's no way in the pit he's going to sacrifice that much.

"You know, we'll just make a little to Cybertron. I can't help you with these supplies," Swindle said. "Cybertron is only a short distance away. We can get there and out quickly and get back to hunting down this guy. That sound good?"

"It will do."

"Alright, I'll get us heading over there. Meanwhile, you set the lab up for the cortical whatever and make sure you don't accidentally killed Skywarp." Shockwave gave a nod with his head. "Everybody else, day off unless we got anything else to do today. Do we have anything to do today?" Nobody answer. "Alright good. You can go do whatever as long as you don't kill each other." He said those words to Scavenger and Skywarp. "Meeting over." At that, Killshot quickly ran out of the room follow closely by Hook and Scavenger, who opted to walk instead of run. Shockwave walked slowly out of the door with misfire following behind with a box in his hand, leaving Swindle, Dead End, and Skywarp in the room.

Swindle headed to the cockpit and set course for Cybertron. AS he was doing that, Skywarp was talking to Dead End about what could the psychic patch could do to him. "I'm worry, alright. I don't what's going to happen."

"Well, I've heard stories about the psychic patch. It's been banned by the Autobots due to the risk of one's being trap in one's own mind for the rest of their life." Skywarp frown. "Their's also been reports that people have gone insane from it." Skywarp frown went deeper. "some people think's it just a rumor, but, knowing this life, it's probably has actual occurred."

"You know you're a real ray of fraggin' sunshine, Dead End. Seriously, you just made me feel so much better," Skywarp said, sarcasm obvious. At that, he left the room in a huff, wanting to get away from the emo-con. Dead End looked at him leaving and just shrug his shoulders. He went to the cockpit and took a seat in the unoccupied chair next to Swindle.

"You think that was a smart thing to say to Skywarp?" Swindle asked.

"I was just telling the truth," Dead End said, no remorse in his voice.

"Yeah, well, people don't like the truth and prefer to be lie to."

"How do you know this?"

"You forget, unlike most cons, I'm actually a member of the really upper-class. It's a pretty well-known fact up there." The radio bleeped, indicating a transmission. Swindle hit the button and the radio came on, letting a voice in.

"Swindle," Onslaught said.

"Oh, hey Onslaught. Contacting us already. Something happen." Of course something happen. He just needed to know what.

"You can say that. Swindle, please explain why you saw fit to kill one of my troops before you left." Oh, that incident.

"He stole from me and I saw fit to take action against him for it."

"By shooting him. Twice. With a Scattershot."

"I may have use overkill when dealing with him."

"May have?"

"Okay, I did use overkill. Is there a problem? Guy stole from me." Swindle said, remorse taking a vacation as he wasn't in Swindle's voice.

"Did you at least give him the chance to surrender?" Onslaught asked.

"Of course I did." HE silently shook his head at Dead End. "He refused, so I had to contain the situation, lethally." There was a sigh on the other end.

"Alright, just, please don't do that again. I don't want to explain to superiors how troops die in the base with no Autobot able to infiltrate it. Understand?"

"Yeah, I do. See you later."

"Good-bye, Swindle." With that, Swindle hanged up. HE looked at Dead End, who was giving him a disappointed looked. "Oh, don't give me that look. I've done a lot worst thing that that."

"And you're certainly restoring my faith in everything," Dead End said, disdain in his voice.

"Hey, we can't all be perfect examples. Now to Cybertron."


	32. S1: Cortical pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Landing on Cybertron was met with little fanfare. Swindle, Shockwave, and Skywarp were at the door getting ready to go with Dead End, Killshot, and Misfire watching them leave. The door was already open letting in light from the Sun. "We'll be back in about a megacycle, alright. Just hold the place down until we get back," Swindle said to the three observers.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Now hurry up and go, the faster we can get out of this planetary graveyard," Misfire said, prompting a look from the other two watchers. Why was he here exactly?

"Uh, yeah, what he said. We'll make sure everything stays cool here. Just please be quick. This place is disturbing," Killshot agreed, looking out the door to see the same hand sticking out of the rubble. Thing was creeping him out.

Dead End was looking out at the sky. "I agree with Killshot about leaving quickly, but for different reasons. The clouds are gathering up. A rust storm might be coming soon," he said, pointing outside the door. Indeed, the skies were gathering and the place was getting dark.

"Scrap! Alright, let's hurry up a go you two," Swindle said, walking off the ramp with Shockwave and Skywarp in two with the other three closing the door behind them and going back to the bridge. The three walk quickly through the ruins to the base, walking pass many corpses in such lovely states as impale with a extremely sharp object, cut in half, or just blown to pieces.

The three arrive at the base in about ten minutes. The three enter the base through the still open door. "Alright, we're here. Shockwave, you take Skywarp to the interrogation room and get the image of the slagger. I'm going to check out the other rooms," Swindle ordered.

"And why do you want to search the other rooms?" Shockwave asked.

"There might be other supplies we could use. You never know." Swindle said, and start heading to the Science Lab. Shockwave just looked at him before heading to the interrogation room, giving Skywarp a sigh to follow him. Skywarp looked at Shockwave and briefly wondered whether or not to follow him before following in his step. Hey, if he wanted the slagger who killed Thundercracker, he had to make some sacrifices.

The two walked through the dimly lit hallways. Skywarp remember walking through these hallways with Thundercracker just yesterday. Now, he's walking through a hallway with a mad scientist who can't understand emotions who was about to go fishing through his memory banks. Just great.

They arrive through the door and into the room. "Lay on one of the tables," Shockwave ordered, indicating the slightly slanted tables. Skywarp obediently went and lay on it, but kept his limbs away from the restraints. No way was he strapping him down.

Shockwave grab a cord that had a purple tint to it. He took one of the wire and connected it to his neck. Once done, he walked over to Skywarp. Skywarp looked at the wire that he was going to insert into his neck. He was having second thoughts about this. "Um, wait! Do we have to do it like this? Preferably something with a little less impaling!" Skywarp asked.

"Yes," Shockwave said, simply. "It won't hurt much," he said, not boosting Skywarp's confidence any.

"Right, sure. Can we have a rain check on this?" Skywarp asked. Shockwave just glared at him, which was effective considering the lack of face and only having a single eye. "Alright, alright, just make it quick," Skywarp said, agreeing to the probably dangerous grab his head and expose his neck to the wire and –surprisingly- gently insert it in his neck.

Skywarp felt a sudden sharp pain.

Lying slagger.

XXX

Swindle walked through the hallways. Sure, he may be looking for more supplies for his ship, but that wasn't the main objective. Getting to the console that he stole Shockwave's data off of was his actual reason for coming here. If Shockwave saw that his data was just fine, than let's just say that Shockwave would be less incline to stay on the ship.

He was nearing the lab. Hr was hear and could delete that evidence. Just get on it and delete the files…

What was that?

Swindle paused outside the lab and peak his head inside. What he saw surprised him. They were turbofoxes. That really shouldn't be possible considering all the resources to survive were gone from this planet, but that didn't stop these guys. There were two turbofoxes in the room, searching for anything of use, one red and the other blue. Throughout the search, the two kept looking at each as they search. Swindle had a pretty good guess why and his hypotheses prove to be correct in a couple of cycles.

Suddenly, the red one attacked the other. It took a mighty bite on its leg, getting into some of the wires. The blue one kicked it hard with one of its feet, sending the red one back. The red one was briefly startled, but continued its attacked. It throws itself at it, sending them both off their feet. The blue one was dazed and confuse leaving it open to attack which the red one seize upon. It dive for the blue one's neck and sink its teeth in it and ripping them out, along with some wires.. The resulting gash spews energon from its wound. The blue one struggle to stay alive, writhing on the floor, but ended up dying in the end.

The red turbofox looked at its victim and greedily licked the energon that was spilling from the wound. If Swindle had betted on whom would win, he definitely would have won some cash. With that entertaining display over, he walked into the room and draw his Scattershot, just in case the turbofox decided to do something stupid. He walked through the lab, taking note of the computer just past the turbofox and the deep, perilous chasm below the bridges. He walked passed it, giving it a glance. It was a long way down. He looked at the turbofox. It was still eating his meal, ignoring him.

Swindle arrived at the computer and laid his gun down on the side as he looked through the files. Yep, this was what he was after. Now to begin the deletion process. He clicked all the files and promptly pressed the delete button. A note came up asking if he was sure about this. Swindle allowed himself a little grin before pushing yes. Than another note came up again, asking if he was really sure about this. He clicked yes again, with a smaller smile. Then it asked one more time if he was really sure about this. At this point, Swindle wanted to punch the computer right in the screen, but opted to just push yes again. Finally, a note came up, telling him it would take about five minutes to delete the files.

Swindle gave a smug grin. Now Shockwave could only get the files from. He was good. At that, he reached for his scattershot…

Wait, where the frag is it.

A growl came from behind him. H\e looked behind him to see the turbofox growling at him, looking pretty hungry. Behind the turbofox was his gun, all the way back at the entrance. Swindle looked at the turbofox who wanted sloppy seconds. Life really hated him at this moment.

Swindle popped the blades from his arm and looked at the turbofox. Well, if the creature, who was he to reject its wishes. The two stare at each other, waiting for one of the other to move.

The turbofox leaped at him.

XXX

"I'm telling you, Shockwave is a pit spawn." Misfire said to Dead End, who had a incredible look of disinterest in his face. Misfire was talking to him about where exactly Shockwave came from. Killshot was in one of the seats in the cockpit, looking outside, trying to avoid the dark red menace.

"So, why do you think that?" Dead End asked, humoring him.

"Several reasons, all of them legitimate. First off, he just came out of the blue one day, working for Megatron. Second, he's devoid of any emotoion, except probably anger, although I haven't seen him use it, _yet_. Third, why one eye? I mean, really. The only reason could be to look as threatening as possible, leaving more room for the pit spawn angle. Fourth, he's a torturer, do I have to say anything about that? Final reason -please note that this is nothing, but the absolute truth- is that he is scarier than most people. Seriously, I've heard some vehicons fear-piss themselves at the mere mention of his name." Misfire said, ending his long speech of why Shockwave was a pit spawn.

"Well, I certainly didn't see any vehicons fear-piss themselves when we actually brought in Shockwave," Killshot said from the cockpit.

"Well, the vehicons we have there have some pretty big bearings. Anyway, think about it, he has to be a pit spawn. At the very least, he has to some sort of experiment gone wrong. I mean, one hand is a irremovable BFG that packs almost as much punch as Megatron fusion cannon. Slag, I bet that he is actually a servant of Unicron."

"Misfire, may I point out that Unicron doesn't exist and nothing says otherwise," Dead End said.

"Yeah, have to agree with the emo on that one. With Primus, we have proof that he existed. Unicron? Some stuff that is called the 'blood of Unicron' and that's it. What a bunch of slag that is. Personally, I think it's just called that to make some more awesome and evil."

"Dude, I'm telling you, Unicron exists," Misfire said, without a hint of disbelief in his voice. What a idiot.

"Whatever." Killshot looked outside. "Dead End, you think we could radio in to the guys to hurry the frag up."

"Maybe. Why?" Dead End asked.

"Because," Killshot said, looking at the gathering cloud and the light winds hitting the window, "the storm is picking up."


	33. S1: Cortical pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

As Shockwave was fishing through his database, Skywarp couldn't get rid of how uncomfortable this whole thing was. There was a cord in his neck injected in what Shockwave called the 'neural cluster,' and saying it was painful was an understatement. It was like someone had stuck a knife right through his neck and left it there, leaving him to bleed out, except he wasn't bleeding out. The longer it was in there, the less painful it got. Of course, by less painful, I mean that instead of a knife in his neck, someone stab him in the chest. Still painful, but compare to the other outcome, he would take it.

Skywarp also really wanted to talk to someone, but would prefer if it wasn't Shockwave. Just looking at him gave Skywarp the nerves. Having him stick a cord in his neck was just a bonus. Talking to him would most likely consist with him giving evil sounding answers. Or silence. Silence was also a likely way for him to answer.

After some debating, he decided 'frag it' and began asking questions. "So, how's the weather today?" Wow, that was cliché.

"From what I saw outside, it looked like a rust storm was coming in," Shockwave answer, keeping his eye on the screen where Skywarp's memories were showing.

"That happens often?" Skywarp asked, his voice a little strain. That cord hurts.

"No, it doesn't. It's the exact reason why I chose this area as my base of operations. Storms don't hit here often. Of course, storms have been occurring more often lately, with each one getting worse as time goes on." The screen showed him and Thundercracker arriving at Shockwave's base. He's going to need to fast forward some more.

"What was the last one like?" Skywarp asked.

"The building cracked and nearly collapse on itself. I imagine if the next storm was more powerful, it could take the building down," he said, without a single tone of his voice giving off anxiety, fear, etc.

"So, it would probably be best if we got out of here as soon as possible."

"Correct." The screen showed him and Thundercracker jumping out of the ship at Telos now. He was almost there.

"Right, so, how was old screamer when he showed up here?"

"Arrogant and foolish."

"Ah, yeah. I saw him on the footage. Talk about a fail." Skywarp said. The monitor was now at the security footage. Shockwave slowed the footage down to normal screen. It showed the seeker entering the room and doing what Skywarp already saw. Check the computer and then leave. Shockwave unattached the cord on his neck and removed Skywarp's cord as well. "So, we're done here?" Skywarp asked.

"Yes. Footage of the seeker acquired. Now we just need to find Swindle and leave this place."

"Alright, let's go find him."

XXX

Swindle had to give the turbofoxes credit for something; they were strong. When the red turbofox leapt on him, it almost knocked him over. Swindle balance himself quickly, however, and knock the creature back. The turbofox was briefly startled before leaping towards Swindle's neck again. Swindle dodge it and let it smash it's head in the console behind him.\

Swindle took advantage of this and attacked the animal with his blade. The blade hit its mark, imbedding itself in his body, almost hitting the spark chamber. The turbofox howled in pain at this. Swindle took measures to make the thing shut up permanently by swinging by swinging his other blade down on the turbofox neck.

The blade buried itself deep in the creature's neck, killing it almost instantly. Energon squirted out of the wound in a rapid pace, leaving some on Swindle's arm. Swindle took his blades out of the creature's body and retracted the energon-soaked blades back into his arms.

With his fight done, he checked the computer. It was done deleting the incriminating data. Swindle smiled at that, unable to keep the fact that Shockwave will now have to stay with him if he wants that data. With that done, he turn around and walked out of the room, but not before taking some of his time to kick the stupid turbofox off the bridge and into the chasm. Hey, it had it coming.

Swindle walked through the halls, until Skywarp gave him a called on the comm. link. "Hey, Swindle, where are you? We got the data and getting out of here."

"I'm coming from the labs. I should be at the exit in a cycle."

"Alright, hurry. The storm is getting more angry."

XXX

"Swindle will be here in a cycle," Skywarp said to Shockwave.

"Good. Skywarp, I want you to go ahead and teleport me to the ship. After that, you come back and get Swindle."

"Why?"

"It would be quicker of you teleport us out of here instead of walking to the ship," Shockwave explained.

"Alright, grab a hold of me." Shockwave did as he was told and hold onto Skywarp. Suddenly, Shockwave vision was blinded by a blue light and they were teleported to the med-bay.

Well, except for the fact that they were in mid-air.

The two fell to the ground together, with Skywarp screaming like a femme. The two landed with Skywarp on top of Shockwave, silencing Skywarp's scream. The two were in a bit of a haze as they tried to get up, but failed, collapsing back to the ground.

The door to the med-bay opened, letting in Hook. He stop when he saw the two in the room. "So, back already?" he asked. Skywarp groan in response. "Great. Say, where's my assistant at? He said he would wait for me." A groan from under the two answer his question. "You two are on Scavenger," Hook said, deadpan. Skywarp looked a bit startle and got up on his two feet, albeit a bit slowly. Shockwave, once Skywarp got up, got up quickly, exposing Scavenger beneath him.

"Ow," Scavenger said, barely online.

"Great job, idiots. You crushed my assistant." Hook growled out.

"My condolences," Shockwave said, before walking out of the room, acting as if nothing happen.

"Yeah, sorry doc. Gotta go now. Swindle's waiting for me." Skywarp teleported out of there, leaving Hook with his injure assistant. Hook scoff at the two idiots, before picking up Scavenger.

"Hey, hook. How are you?" Scavenger asked dazedly.

"Fine."

"Good. Said, why are you wearing a duck on your head." Oh dear…

XXX

Swindle was at the entrance now. He looked around for the two, but didn't see them. Odd. Maybe they left without him, which, if they did, was a serious douche move. Swindle grimaced at the thought. But they wouldn't leave him here, right? Oh, who was he kidding? They were Decepticons. They weren't known for helping their own.

Before Swindle could contemplate this further, Skywarp teleported into the room. "Hey Swindle, you're ready to go?"

"Where's Shockwave?"

"At the ship." Skywarp answered.

"Alright, teleport us to the bridge." Swindle ordered. Skywarp did what he said and grab a hold of Swindle and teleported them to the bridge. Unlike last time, there wasn't anything wrong with this teleport, as they both landed in the bridge with their feet on the ground. Dead End, Killshot, and Misfire looked at the new arrivals.

"Hey there, can we fly out of here now?" Killshot asked.

"Yeah, sure." Swindle said, as he walked to the cockpit. Once there, he started up the ship, whiling looking out the window of the ship. The storm was getting worse. The winds were coming faster now and some of the buildings were creaking. The ship was also being slightly push.

Swindle brought the ship up steadily, not wanting to accidentally crash the ship. The ship went up at a rapid pace until he was out of the atmosphere of Cybertron. Swindle breathe a sigh of relief at they exit Cybertron. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to go to that dead planet anytime soon.

The door to the bridge opened, letting in Shockwave. Swindle turned around at his entrance. "So, you got an image of the guy?" Swindle asked.

"Yes, I do. I just need to upload it to the computer."

"Well than, pick one. They're all on the same system." Shockwave did what he said and went to a computer to upload. Once he was done, he informed Swindle of it. "Alright, good. Now, let me see what this guy looks like." He walked up to the computer and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, a 3-D image of the seeker show up on the table.

Swindle examine him. No sighs on him indication Autobot or Decepticon. The guy was definitely a seeker. He had a few scars on him, the most notable one being one that went from the middle of his chassis to his neck. On his back, he carried a Sniper rifle. From the looked of it, it looked like a Nucleon Charge Rifle. Similar, but different, to the null rifle Killshot used.

"This is the one who killed Thundercracker?" Dead End asked.

"That has to be him," Skywarp said, with some anger in his voice.

"So, how do we figure out who he is?" Killshot asked.

"I'll send this image of him around the information network," Swindle said. "One of them has to know who he is and if none of them know who he is, they'll have to spot him sooner or later."

"Alright, so, what do we do while we're waiting for the information?" Misfire asked.

"How do you guys feel about exploring some of the planets?" Swindle asked.


	34. S1: Weightless pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

"So, what can you tell me about this planet we're heading to? What was it…Espero?" Killshot asked Swindle in the cockpit as they were flying towards there coordinates a couple megacycles later. Dead End and Skywarp were at the bridge behind them listening in while everyone else was at their posts. Dead End was reading a datapad, trying to ignore everybody else, while Skywarp was standing at the cockpit.

"Espera. It's an odd planet, considering it has little to no gravity. Seriously, some of the land is just floating in the air."

"So, we can just float around the place."

"Yep."

"That's actually sounds like a good way to waste our time. Always wondered what it's like to fly without endangering my life."

Dead End click to the next page.

"It's exhilarating, grounder." Skywarp replied behind them. "It's just like what you experience on Telos with me, only I imagine you'll be moving significantly slower."

"Sounds awesome."

"Yeah, Killshot, the gravity actually won't let you fly." Swindle said. Killshot gave him an angry look. "Don't blame me, blame gravity. Yes, you'll float, but it'll be less like flying and more like swimming without water."

"Are you serious?" Killshot asked

Yep. Better luck next time. Maybe if you actual get a T-cog and get some surgery to make you a flyer, than you can do it," Swindle said.

Dead End click again.

"Ooh, tough luck." Skywarp said behind them.

"How about I ride on you again? There'll be less of a need to hurry this time." Killshot asked.

"Yeah…. How about screw you?"

"Oh, come on."

"Yeah, last I check, you hitch a ride on me."

"You gave me permission."

"You can't fly!"

"What does this have to do with anything!"

"Uh… because it does."

Mentally, Swindle and Dead End took a deep intake. This was going to be awhile.

XXX

"My head hurt, along with my legs, and my arms, and my body, and, well, everything," Scavenger complain, onlining again.

"Yeah, getting crush by the combine weight of Shockwave and Skywarp tends to cause pain," Hook replied nonchalantly, looking over Scavenger vital signs.

"Skywarp's already trying to kill me? Oh, come ooooon," Scavenger groan.

"Get over it. You've have worse. Remember when you fall from a ten story building and impale yourself?"

"Don't remind me. Can't remember how I fell though."

"By your own two feet and your tail. Well, I got good news. You've got a clean bill of health. No permanent damage or anything, aside from the aches you're feeling. Now, I'm going to the Science Lab." With that, Hook turned to go. However, before he goes, Scavenger grabbed his hand.

"Wait, Hook. I got a question. What do we do about Skywarp?" Scavenger asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. Skywarp obviously did this on purpose." Scavenger hissed.

"And what exactly do you have to suggest he did this on purpose?"

"I'm injured because of him. What else do you need?"

"Scavenger," Hook said, going into lecture mode, "in order to blame someone for something, you need physical evidence."

"I'm crushed. Isn't that enough?"

"No, it isn't. Skywarp easily could've teleport here by coincidence. While he does he have a motive, we don't know if he purposely teleported here or not. Without knowing if he did it on purpose or not, you can't blame him for anything."

"But-"

"No buts. If it happens again, then we'll consider confronting him. Until then, stay out of his way. We don't need infighting on this ship. Now stay here," Hook ordered. With that, he left the Med-lab, leaving Scavenger by himself and with his thoughts.

Was Skywarp trying to kill him? Yes, Scavenger thought. He was definitely trying to kill him. Question was how to you stop him. Kill him? It would be as simple as going into his room while he's recharging and bash his head in with his shovel. No. After that fiasco involving Thundercracker's death, Starscream was unleashing hell on his subordinates. If he heard about Skywarp's death and learn that he caused it, he would have his head. So, what else can he do? Honestly, he had no idea what to do.

Maybe that voice can think of a solution.

XXX

Misfire and Shockwave were in the science-lab together and the dividing line was easy to see. Shockwave's side being, easy to walk through, and everything easy to find and Misfire's being a convoluted mess that only he could walk through without a problem. The two had been doing there own thing with Shockwave studying logs that Swindle give him as swag. Want everything, do good. Misfire was… recharging.

Shockwave personally didn't mind that. He imagined talking to Misfire would be the equivalent to speaking to someone on fast forward. He also had a hard time actually shutting up. Include that along with his drug habit and that made him one individual Shockwave would not want to talk to for awhile. Hopefully, the silence would last for a while.

Unfortunately, the door opened, letting in Hook. "Hey, Misfire!" he shouted to Misfire. He didn't get an answer from the sleeper. Hook let out a small curse before walking over to his desk to wake him up, trying to not trip over the stuff on the floor. How could he make a mess already? They've been here for less than a day and it's already hard to walk through. What can he do in a week?

Finally he crossed the messy jungle and reached Misfire, he use the one surefire way to wake someone: slapping. The resulting scream from Misfire as he tumble to the floor was worth it. "Ow. Okay, did you really have to do that? You know I don't like being touch," he asked.

""Let that be a lesson to not sleep anywhere except your room," Hook replied just a little smugly.

"Is that the only reason you came down here?"

"No, it isn't. The reason I came down here is o tell you that we're going to have a thereby session."

"Scrap. I was hoping you forgot about that."

"Did you forget that's the only reason why you're here. Without me, you'll still be a neurotic mess. Now, you're a slightly less neurotic mess, but it's still progress. I'll call for you sometime tomorrow when I what you to come to my room for the session. Til next time." And with that, Hook went back through the jungle and out the door, leaving Misfire alone with Shockwave, who was staring at him. Misfire turned to look at him.

"What are you looking at, creep." Shockwave turned back to his data. HE wasn't having a talk with this crazy bastard. Just go back to work and pretend he doesn't exist and silence will reign.

Suddenly, the intercom in the room came alive. "HELL- AGH. DAMN THAT'S LOUD. HOLD ON. There, that's better. Listen, everybody. This is Swindle. Just thought you should know there we are at the planet Espera. I figure everybody would like to come out of the ship and look around the place. Whether you come out here or not is purely your choice, except for Shockwave. I'm visiting planets because of you and I deemed that you come look around every planet we visit. Alright then, later." With that, the intercom turned off, leading the two cons in the room. Shockwave gave one last look at his pad before putting it down and heading out the door.

"Hey, wait for me." Misfire called behind him, as he walked through the jungle of the floor like a acrobat. Shockwave ignore him and head out the room as quick as possible. Misfire got out of there and walk by Shockwave's side. "Thanks for waiting," he said bitterly. HE didn't get a reply.


	35. S1: Weightless pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Killshot approach the console to open the door, with Skywarp and Dead End in tow. Skywarp was looking antsy while Dead End was still reading his datapad. Skywarp took note of this. "Hey, Sunshine, what are you reading?" Skywarp asked him, using his nickname.

"'An Infinite Regression' by The Mourner," Dead End replied without looking up from his datapad.

"The Mourner," Killshot echoed from the console as he pressed the button to open the door. "Isn't he some writer or something like that? I remember my creator talking about him before."

"Yes, he _was_," he replied, putting emphasize on was. "He was killed in a bombing a little before the war started. This was his final work before he perished." He looked up from his datapad at Killshot. "How do you know him?" he asked, slight interest coming from his voice. "He was an obscure writer. Very few knew him."

"My creator was a literature and language professor," Killshot replied. "He always had some new author for me to look at every week. Insisted I read them and check them out. However, my interest in art forms, as you can probably guess, lies in music. He was strict, but he'd meant well." Killshot said, a slight happiness in his voice.

By this time, the door had open and the ramp was down, showing the outside world. The place was covered in a light fog. A lot of the ground was floating in the air, leaving specks of dirt clouding their vision. In some cases, large islands of dirt were floating in the air, all pack together as one. There was long vegetation poking out every now and then, looking like they were trying to escape the ground. The three looked around at the area, taking it in. It was a beautiful place to look at.

"Well, I'm going to jet. Later," Skywarp said. With that, he jumped out of the door and transformed out of there, leaving the two behind. The two watch him fly off, before looking at the ground before them.

"The ship's gravity generator will keep us grounded until we leave it," Dead End pointed out.

"Yeah, I got a question before we step off this ship and float: why are you going out here?" Killshot asked, keeping his hand on the side of the door. Dead End gave him a questioning look. "I mean, this place is more like a place to have fun than a mission. I just don't get it." Dead End looked at him silently for a couple of seconds before giving a answer.

"Inspiration."

"Huh?" he ask, a little disbelieving.

"I'm looking for inspiration to write some poetry. I've already wrote hundreds about the horrors of war. I thought I might try something new," hr answer, his shoulders slouch and his grim look even grimmer somehow.

"You hated this war, didn't you," Killshot pointed out, showing some insight into Dead End's situation.

"I still do. It has left nothing but death and destruction wherever it goes," Dead End said, looking a little tired. "I'm hoping that visiting some of these planets can help me write some more… _uplifting_ stuff." Dead End said, a slight bit of hope in his voice.

"So, a emo like you is going to write sappy, sentimental stuff?" Killshot asked, a bit of doubt in his voice.

"Basically, yes."

"Wow, my creator would've love you." Killshot muttered.

"You know, there's one thing I've noticed about this conversation," Dead End said. "You've always use the past tense when talking about your creator." Killshot stay silent about that. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it. Most of our creators are dead, so it's nothing special. I just, didn't see his death coming. Come on, let's find some inspiration for your poem," Killshot said, ignoring the question as he started jumped off the ship. As soon as he exits the door, he started floating. "Whoa!" Killshot exclaimed as he floated through the air. "So this is what it's like to float. It's pretty cool." He turned towards Dead End. "Hey man, come on! Inspiration is waiting for you!" he yelled at him.

Dead End looked at him floating before looking at the ground before him. He kept his arm on the door as he took his first step out of the door. He immediately noticed that it was a bit hard to keep his foot on the ground, due to the gravity. He hesitated. What if he lost control? What if he floated off and into space? "Hey, emo! Hurry up." Killshot yelled with joy in his voice, obviously enjoying himself as he swims around in the air. "Just take a jump and stop being depressing." Dead End thought about all the things that could go wrong if he do that. So many things, but maybe it was time to stop listening to that little voice in his head that says that everything will go bad. What could go wrong with having some fun?

Dead End took a leap.

He immediately floated through the air. He felt light, like he barely weight a thing. He took a look at the ground below him, noticing he was getting farther away from it. He looked around the area. The fog gave the place a sense of mystery, leaving him a bit unease. Could be monsters in there… No! Shut up! Dead End mentally yell at himself. He immediately went back to thinking about the joy he felt when floating. It felt ethereal to float like this. He looked Killshot, who was giving him a wicked grin. "So, have you got any inspiration yet?" he asked. Dead End thought it over before answering.

"I think I have a title," Dead End said, his voice showing no emotion.

"What?" Killshot asked, interested.

"Weightless."

XXX

Misfire and Shockwave were walking down the halls towards the exit of the ship, one not talking and the other unable to keep his mouth shut. "…don't see why some people bash my movies. I mean, did you ever see one of my movies. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you did. My acting was fragging phenomenal. I won multiple awards. I was fragging rich. Oh, and don't get me started on the amount of magazines I was on. I was on the front page of Cybertron daily news over a hundred times. People just couldn't get enough of my handsome face."

"And look at yourself now," Shockwave cut in. A frown came upon Misfire's face and he looked a lot more depress. His shoulders sank, his wings droop down, and his step was a lot slower.

"Yeah, look at me now. Instead of looking like one of the dashing hero in a story, I now look like some generic villain for the heroes to fight. I can never be the good guy, now," Misfire complains.

"You don't have high moral standards," Shockwave pointed out. "Drug use, multiple affairs, and accidently killing several of your comrades. Not exactly a good influence."

"Hey, that last one was not my fault," Misfire disagreed. "I was just following my orders. I never meant for anyone of my teammates to get killed."

"No, you follow your orders. It was just your incompetence that got them killed," Shockwave replied.

"Hey, I was just following Blackout's order. Personally, I thought he was a moron for telling me to use the machine gun, but who was I to question him. Triggerhappy was dead and Slugslinger was too busy to use it. That left only Makeshift, who disappeared for some odd reason, Blackout, a K class, and the vehicons, who are almost as bad as me when it comes to guns. Honestly it was all just so wrong…" Misfire finished quietly, his steps getting even slower.

"How was Triggerhappy killed?" Shockwave asked., his voice and stance not changing.

"Some sniper managed to shoot him in the head. When the shot hit, their wasn't a head left to recover. It just… exploded," Misfire said, softly, obviously a little shaken by the experience.

"And Slugslinger was killed by your hands." Shockwave said, not questioned.

"Yeah. Don't know when, but it was definitely by my hands. According to the medics on the field, he was shot about 10 times, one of which hit his spark chamber and killed him, along with most of the vehicons there.." Misfire chuckle a bit at that. "Why is it that the person that I wasn't aiming for dies and the one I am aiming for doesn't die."

"It's irony," Shockwave said.

"Yeah. I save everybody in the movies, but can't save a single fragging life in the real world." Misfire laugh bitterly at that. "Life just loves irony like that. I lost a lot of people I cared about that day." Misfire said mournfully, stopping in his steps. Shockwave kept on walking. "You know, you go on ahead. I'll spread my wings on the next world. I'm in a bad mood right now." Shockwave didn't answered, and Misfire didn't mind. He just turned the other way and walk back to the Science lab.

Perhaps some highly questionable substances could lighten his mood?


	36. S1: Weightless pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

Killshot was jumping from rock to rock excitedly, having way too much fun. Dead End, by contrast, was jumping a lot slower, thinking about what to write. The fogginess of the area was thick, so they both made sure to keep the ship within their site, although Killshot was getting a little bit too far away from the ship. Dead End called him on this. "Stay close to the ship. You don't know what could happen if you get too far."

"Relax," he called out in a happy tone, "there's nothing to worry about. Besides, if I get lost, Swindle can just look up my location and BAM! I'm found and he'll come get me."

"What happens if he leaves you behind on purpose?" Dead End asked.

"He tried to do that a couple of times, but he always comes back," he replied, jumping to another rock, getting a little closer to the ship.

"He does?" Dead end asked, a bit surprise.

"Yeah, although I really don't know why. I guess he cares about me a little bit, somewhere in that body of his, although I don't know where. Or maybe it's because I'm really good at offering protection. Yeah. That's probably it," Killshot said, jumping to the next rock effortlessly.

"Well, I guess you better be thankful for that." Dead End said, jumping to the next rock. He glided offer lazily, latching onto to the rock when he was close enough.

"Yeah. Tell me, have you found any hidden weapons around the ship?" he asked.

"No…," Dead End said, a little worry.

"Ah, well, I guess that's a good thing. Just telling you, there are all kinds of weapons hidden on the ship. Swindle's a bit paranoid like that. If you accidently find one, don't panic and leave it alone. If you snatch it, he will know and will take it back by force, like one idiot he invited on the ship figured out," Killshot jumped to another rock near Dead End and landed. Dead End jumped from the rock he was on to that rock, latching on to it.

"What happen to him?" Dead End asked, hanging on.

"A didn't witness it; Swindle took care of it by himself. Said he didn't need any help. When he came back on the ship, he had a lot of energon on him and the weapon. He didn't say anything to me, from what I heard, the guy was found latter cut in to seven pieces. So, moral of the story: don't steal from Swindle. Dude will kill you, and you will not go gently," he finished his tale.

"My, he's a bit homicidal, isn't he?" Dead End asked, a bit nervously. He did not want another homicidal maniac as his leader.

"Only if you steal from him. Do that and he will go all psychotic fragging hatred on you. Dude's a bit crazy in the head like that." Killshot looked at the ship's entrance. "Hey, is that Shockwave? I can't believe he's actually coming out here." Dead End look at the ship, seeing Shockwave walking out of the ship. From what he saw, he could see something attach to his feet and he was carrying something in his sole hand. "Why isn't he floating?" Killshot asked from beside him.

"If I had to guess, it's probably has something to do with what he's wearing on his feet," Dead End answered. Killshot looked at Shockwave closer before he saw what Dead End was talking.

"Hey, I know those. Those are grav-boots. Keeps your feet on the ground no matter the gravity." Killshot said. Dead End gave him a odd look. Killshot noticed and provided an answer. "I've had to wear some before. Sometimes the ship requires repairs and we go out to repair it. Comes in two flavors: regular and magna-clamps. For the ship, we use magna-clamps. Looks like he's using regular," Killshot said, bending his neck to get a better look. "Yep, definitely regular."

"Looks like he'd did as Swindle requested," Dead End commented. Shockwave alked out of the ship and looked around, until he laid his optic on them. When he saw them, he started walking over to them, looking very evil. Normal look for him.

"Aw, scrap. He's walking over towards us evilly. Why is he walking over towards us evilly?" Killshot asked anxiously. Shockwave was not number one on his people to converse with.

"Maybe he requires our assistance on something," Dead End said optimistically, prompting a look from Killshot, "or he coming over here to kill us." Ah, there's his pessimism. Killshot turned his head back to Shockwave and decided to ask the question.

"Hey, Shockwave! Do you need our help with something?" He quickly whispered to Dead End, "Get ready to run."

"Swindle request that I look after the three of you to make sure you don't wander off." He looked at the two hanging on the rock. "Unfortunately, it appears that one of you already wander off."

"Three of us… do you mean Skywarp? We have no idea where he went. He just flied off to somewhere as soon as the door opened," Killshot reply to him.

"Of course one of you flew off before I came out here," Shockwave said. He used his servo to click some things on what Dead End realized was a datapad. "He's located about a mile from here. I need you two to follow me."

"What. Why?" Killshot asked.

"I need to keep my optic on you and the only way I can accomplish this is if you follow me," he replied. Killshot and Dead End looked at each other, before Killshot replied back.

"Just to make sure, this isn't some way for you to experiment on us, is it?"

"No, it isn't. Although if it was, I definitely wouldn't tell you," Shockwave replied.

"That was a stupid question," Dead End snark beside him.

"Shut up," Killshot replied back. Dead End looked at Shockwave and asked him a question.

"Why don't you call him and the comm. channel and tell him to come back?" Dead End asked.

"I tried communicating with the three of you, but you didn't answer back." The two looked look at each other before they looked at their communications channel.

"Whoops, sorry. Had mine turn off," Killshot said.

"Same here," Dead End echo.

"Why am I not surprise?" Shockwave asked himself before turning his attention back on the two above him. "I'm presuming Skywarp has his turned off, too."

"Probably," Dead End answered.

"Alright than. Follow me or stay on the ship. I am not letting you out here by yourself." The duo look at each other before giving an answer.

"I'll come. Don't want to wait in the ship. Rather stay out here." Killshot said.

"Same here," Dead End said.

"Then let's go."

XXX

Misfire walked to the science lab in a slump. Fraggin Shockwave had to go on ahead and make him more sad than having a conversation with Dead End. Was it everybody's sole goal in life to ruin his day? Besides, it wasn't like it was his fault. It was all Blackout's fault, that idiot. Fragger had to give him orders to commend a machine gun when he knew exactly how bad he was with one. It was such a stupid blunder that no one should've made and yet he did it. And Misfire couldn't exactly disagree with him for fear of being blame for treason and getting the DJD on his aft.

Everything about that op was doomed to fell.

He kept walking, ignoring Hook as he walked passed him (who did the same). None of it was his fault. It was Triggerhappy's fault for getting shot in the first place. It was Slugslinger's fault for being in front of him when he started shooting. It was all their fault, not his.

Especially Blackout's.

Misfire had reach the Science lab and he pressed a button, opening the door. It slide quietly, granting him entrance into the room. He walked into the room, not noticing a shovel in his path….

"AW SCRAP!" Misfire shouted as he felled to the floor, accidently hitting the counter as he fell.

"Sorry!" came a voice near him. He looked to see Scavenger standing over him. At least, he thought that was him. Hard to tell with all the stupid ducks clounding his vision. "You tripped on my tail. Sorry about that. Are you alright?" The medical assistant asked. Misfire processed what he said before answering the question.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he answer, ignoring the ducks and what felt like the beginning of a massive hangover.

"You're sure, because your head is a bit dented. And it isn't a small one either," he asked, worry coming through his voice. He had a dent?

"I'm fine. I've had worse, as you can obviously see," Misfire said, giving a smile to signal he was fine. It would look gentle if it wasn't for the scar running through it.

"Well, that's good. One less thing for Hook to blame me for," Scavenger said, relief coming through his voice. He looked at him seeker again. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, never better," Misfire said, trying to get up out of the floor. He was making a bit of a fuss, intaking heavily as he tries to get up, not looking okay. "In fact, I could probably fly around the whole of Cybertron in my condition," he lied, trying to assure him. Scavenger gave a light scoff: not a insulting one. Just one that ask if he thought he was that gullible.

"Come on, I'm not a idiot. I may just be Hook's assistance, but I know when someone's hurt and you're hurt. You're tripping all over yourself," the assistant pointed out; upset that someone thought he was that stupid. Misfire gave him a filthy look before he consider the situation. He wasn't exactly going anywhere at this rate, so it might be better to just do as the Scavenger says.

"Alright Scav, I'll do as you say, but I'm telling you, it's not that bad," Misfire said.

"Yeah, maybe, but you never know. Sometimes the smallest wound causes the biggest problems, as Hook says," Scavenger say, bending over to help Misfire up. He wrapped his arm around his shoulders and helps him up. He couldn't help, but notice Misfire shuddered in his arms a little bit.

"Yeah, maybe, but it's not that bad. Honestly, all I need is a good rest on the birth and I'll be good as new in the morning. I'll just buff that dent out tomorrow," Misfire coaxed with some anxiety in his voice, getting up to his legs. The ducks were slowly leaving his vision, making things easier to see.

Scavenger gave a good look, before answering, "Alright, but if you need any more help, just ask. Okay?" He asked, giving him a worried look.

"Yeah sure, just let go of me," Misfire said, shaking him off and stumbling out of the room, twisting right towards his room. Scavenger follow him, making sure he didn't hurt himself again. He also watched his tail, to make sure he didn't do anything stupid with it. Misfire hit the button that led to his door, enter the room, and close it behind him, locking it to make sure he didn't get in. Misfire headed to his berth, ignoring the knocking on his door. He search the room for his box of drugs, wanting to use them to make the dizziness go away, before he realized something.

He left the box in the lab. Slag….

Misfire briefly considered what to do. Should he leave and try to get the box with what felt like a massive concussion he had or just stay and recharge it away. The knocking on the door help formulate a answer. He stumble to his berth and laid down on it and slip into recharge mode.

XXX

Swindle sat at the cockpit, mentally wondering how much money could be made off this planet. By his estimation he counted that he could make almost nothing on this planet. There was literally nothing of note on this planet except it's weightlessness. Only cellular organisms live on this planet, so there was no moo-lah to be made from that. The ground was absolutely ordinary, just being regular old dirt. Even the atmosphere was nothing special, just a mixture of mostly oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, with some other elements thrown in. Only thing this place would be good for was stashing stuff, and that's if he had something to keep the stuff grounded.

As he thought about the uselessness of the planet, Hook walk into the bridge, the door giving away the fact that he entered the room. He walk with a certain stride in his step that one couldn't help but think that it was with supremacy, which was par for the course with Hook. Swindle turn his head slightly to acknowledge his entrance and spoke first. "What do you want, Hook? Is your room missing a block of high-grade that you deserved?" Swindle asked, sarcastically. Hook frown slightly, but still walked the same way.

"No, I didn't ask for one and didn't expect one. Besides, I don't drink that anymore," Hook answered.

"You don't drink it anymore? Why not? You're a lightweight or something like that?" Swindle asked. Hook scoff at that.

"I'll let you know that I can easily drink anyone in my gestalt under the table. Unlike some built like you, I can hold it in," Hook retort.

"Oh, so you're calling me a lightweight? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and have a contest with me?" Swindle asked, hoping to make some money from this.

"No thank you. Like I said, I don't drink that scrap anymore," Hook said with an air of superiority. He arrived at the cockpit and sat down in the seat next to Swindle. "I trust that no one will mine if I take this seat?"

"Of course not, however, if you take this seat with my permission, than we've got a problem," Swindle answer.

"Understand, you greedy slagger."

"Happy to be one," Swindle answer happily, not letting the remark get to him.

"So, nice ship you got here," Hook acknowledges. "You bought it from someone or did you build it from scratch?"

"Stole it."

"Ah, of course you did. This ship's too nice for you to put too much money in it," Hook remark.

"Hey, just because I stole it doesn't mean I didn't put some modifications to it," Swindle said defensibly.

"Like what?" Hook asked.

"Take the engine. I got it loaded with a Ajax P-9000 Grade-B Jump Launch Accelerator," Swindle say, showing off.

"That's expensive… and a mouthful," Hook snark.

"Yeah, well, I just called it Thunderblast for short," Swindle said, with a odd sort of happiness in his voice.

"I'm guessing someone important to you," Hook said.

"She was an old flame of mine back on Cybertron, about 300,000 years before the war began. She was a cute femme, but don't let that fool you. She had one heck of a left hook," Swindle said, unable to keep the happiness from his voice and his face..

"And what happen to here?" Hook asked. Swindle faced sober at that and his voice felt a bit more restrained as he explained simply:

"She found out what I did for a living." Hook didn't say anything about that. "When she found out, she was really mad. Wanted to know how long I had been doing this. Why I was doing this. I tried to explain all of it to here, but she wouldn't have any of that. Next thing I know I'm laying on the ground with some energon spilling from my mouth. She left and I didn't see her again. She didn't send the police on me either. I always found that odd. Maybe she liked me well enough not to call them." Swindle said, ending his tale about here. Hook stayed silent at that. It was obvious a very personal moment that he want nothing to do with. "I never saw her again after that. From what I heard, she enlisted with the Autobots, so she's probably dead by know. Nothing I can do about that." Swindle stayed silent until he spoked up again.. "I guess arms dealer only have one love," he remarked bitterly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hook remarked, feeling that this was getting way too personal. He looked around the buttons, wondering what they did and trying to ignore Swindle. He was seriously being sadder then Dead End (a hard feat to accomplish) and he really need to find some way to lighten up. He looked at the buttons until he notice a flashing button on the middle console. "Hey, Swindle. What does that mean?" Hook ask. Swindle snapped out of his hazy look and look at the button.

"The guys are trying to contact us. Wonder's what's up," Swindle asked himself, forgetting the conversation with Hook. He pressed the button and immediately heard gunfire in the background. "Primus, what's going on there?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah, you won't believe this Swindle, but we got in a firefight." Killshot remarked.

"With what? This planet is inhabitable except for some microorganisms," Swindle said.

"I didn't said they were locals," Killshot said, before a loud shot rang out. "Oh, slagger. You almost hit. You're going to pay for that." The comm.. line was suddenly rang out again with a even louder shot. "Ha, gotcha. Took his head right off."

"Killshot, pay attention. Now, who's shooting at you?" Swindle asked again, growing more impatient. Killshot happily provided an answer.

"Fragging pirates!"

XXX

**AN: Sorry for long update. Academics is killer. Also, would you please leave a review. It would be nice.**


	37. S1: Jetpacks was Yes! pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

**AN: Violence ahead. Lots of it.  
**

**XXX**

**A few cycles earlier.**

Skywarp flew around Espera, dodging every single large piece of floating land in his way. He didn't quite know where he was going, but he didn't care. He was just enjoying himself. Flying was always his favorite thing to do. He felt completely free from everything around him in these moments, especially when he was by himself and didn't have a screeching commander telling him what to do.

It also gives him some time to think of the recent events. Right now, he was thinking about that seeker in the video. Well, it was less thinking about him and more how many ways can he kill the bastard. There was always the classic plunge your claws in his chest and kill him, but why do only that? Why not rip his spark out while you're at it and dismember his body into small pieces; Then, with all of that done, melt his body down to be use as scrap metal to further desecrate his body.

Oh, yes, revenge was going to be sweet when he gets his servos on him.

With that one notion in his mind, he kept flying, thinking of more ways to torture that seeker. Maybe rip his wings and leave him in a room for a week. Seekers had a tendency to go a bit insane if they couldn't fly and watching him trying to fly but being unable too would be really fun to watch. Or maybe he can use acid to-

Wait, what was that?

Skywarp did a 180 and look back at what he saw. The only thing he saw was a hole in the ground, but he knew he saw something there. He flew to the hole and transform back to his robot mode, grasping onto the ground to stay on it. He look down the whole to see that the bottom wasn't that far away, but what really interested him was the hole cave on the opposite side of the hole… with a guard there. Said guard took notice of him and immediately went with telling him to go away.

"Hey, scram before I shoot you!" said the organic guard, Skywarp universal translator telling him what he said. Skywarp took of that, place his reptilian appearance. His pale-green skin was cover in scars and he didn't look to be in the best of shape. Nothing odd about that. There were other space-faring species beside Cybertronians. What was odd was the gun in his hand that looked like an assault rifle, grav-boots, and headset of Cybertronian origin. Now that was something you don't see every day. There was also a strange thing on his back that Skywarp didn't know what it was called, but he definitely saw it before. "Hey, quit staring and leave already or else I'll shoot!" the guard yelled at Skywarp, forming a deep scowl on his face. Skywarp was not amused.

"Oh yeah. Well you and what army?" he asked, before immediately putting a hand in his mouth to shut himself up. Rule number 1 in any situation in which you're facing the enemy: never question how many men they have. The guard's scowl turn into a twisted smile and talk into the headset.

"Hey, Goliath, its Zyglrox here and I got a problem here. This one piece of slag is annoying and won't leave. Care to show him some of the men we got here… alright. Hey, idiot, last chance. My boys are coming and they will completely wreck you if you don't leave right now!" the guard yelled at Skywarp. "Personally, I hoped you stay. It's been awhile since I've killed anyone!" Skywarp, while slightly worried, wasn't backing away because this one aft said he friends were coming over.

"Do you ever stop screaming?" he asked. "Fleshies like you shouldn't scream so much. Can mean bad things for your throat, from what I hear." That comment ended up making the guard frown even deeper.

"Alright, you ask for it! No matter what happens now, I'm definitely going to kill you now!" Zyglrox shouted once more at the annoying seeker.

"Yeah, well what are you going to do? Jump at me. I can fly, glitch!" Skywarp said to the guard. Zyglrox was about to report until he heard footsteps behind him. Out from the cave came 10 pirates, half like the guard and half Cybertronian. All of them carried the same strange thing on their back as Zyglrox wore along with the assault rifles.

"Well, you have officially pissed me off. Everybody, it's time to teach this jackass a lesson," Zyglrox told his allies.

"Hey, uh, slagbag. I don't know if you haven't notice this, but from what I can see, none of you guys can fly," Skywarp jeered at them. At this response, the guard gave a smile just a little smugly.

"Actually, I think you're a bit wrong on that account," he said, as he pushed a button on a device around his arm that Skywarp just notice. As he pressed the button, two wings popped out of the device on his back. The rest of the men did the same, wings come from the device at that backs. It was at that moment that Skywarp realized what they were: jetpacks.

"Oh scrap," Skywarp muttered to himself as he quickly changed into his alt mode and went back the way he came. As he left, the others quickly turn their jetpacks on and follow him, with Zyglrox leading the pack. Skywarp dodge the rocks in his way, trying to pick the hardest area for them to fly around while dodging their shots. The pack, for their part, appeared to have taken a lot of flying lessons and was dodging them as well as Skywarp.

Zyglrox was almost on Skywarp and was shooting even more shots than his men, preferring to shoot erratically instead of in burst fire. Skywarp dodge these and jerk upward to avoid his fire, where another one of the pack was there waiting to fire at him. Zyglrox shot upward, causing Skywarp to roll left to avoid the shots. The shots ended up hitting the reptilian member above him, most of them hitting him in the chest, killing him almost instantly and causing him to crash into one of the rocks and leave his body floating. Zyglrox paid no attention to the recently decease member as he continue to fire upon Skywarp.

Skywarp, really wanting this guy off his back, came up with a plan while dodging all the fire. He flew around several rocks, with the pack taking potshots at him. He kept flying and dodging until Zyglrox was right behind him, only a few meters away. The next shot he fire would not miss and he was taking his time to aim and hit him, enjoying this.

Skywarp suddenly slow down, letting the unwanted flyer ram into him. The organic's body slam right into Skywarp, face first. The resulting collision resulted in his skull getting fracture, leaving him in plenty of pain. Skywarp, adding insult to injury, then sped back up causing the flames from his thruster to hit Zyglrox. The reptilian like organism scream as his flesh was briefly cook under the intense heat as Skywarp flew away from him, the rest of the pack following him.

Zyglrox crash into the ground painfully, as his body rolled to a stop, his jetpack turned off. The alien scream as loudly as he could, the pain almost unbearable. He felt the worst headache in his life come upon him, along with dealing with the skin around his face having first-degree burns. He was lucky that it was only first-degree burns, considering the heat of the thrusters.

The reptile got to his feet slowly, his grav-boot keeping his feet on the ground. The pirate tried to look around, although it was a bit difficult with his eyes damage from the collision and the thrusters. He looked to see no one around him and he couldn't figure out where that bastard went.

With Skywarp nowhere in sight, he head flew back to the cave, hoping to get medical aid for his wounds.

**XXX**

Shockwave walked across the ground with Killshot and Dead End following him on the rocks floating above him. Dead End was leaping silently while Killshot was humming along to whatever music was playing. Both Dead End and Shockwave knew that tune from somewhere, but didn't quite know where. Shockwave really didn't care about knowing that, since it was unimportant to the situation at hand (or any situation, really), but Dead End couldn't get rid of how familiar it was, so he ask the question.

"Hey Killshot, what's that song you're listening too?" he asked. Killshot didn't react to his question, still humming along to his music. "Hey Killshot, can you hear me?" he asked in a slightly agitated tone. Killshot once again ignored him. Dead End, figuring that more physical measures would have to be taken to get him to answer that question, decided to jump onto the rock that Killshot was about to land on. Once he landed on it, Dead End grabbed him and ask again in a much more… persuasive tone.

"I'm listening to the song "Look at me, I'm waving" by Rosanna. You know that song, I'm guessing," Killshot said. Dead End looked at him like he just sprouted another head and was trying to kill it. "Okay, it's a guilty pleasure of mine. I know how completely retarded it is, but it's way too catchy for me not to listen to it," he said quickly, defending himself.

"You don't look like the type who listens to that dreck," Dead End said.

"Yeah, I know. I can't help it. It's just way too catchy for its own good," Killshot said, hopping to the next rock with Dead End following him.

"Do you sing along with it sometimes?" Dead End asked.

"No. Well… okay sometimes I do," Killshot said. "I know I just listen music credibility by saying that, but it's too frigging catchy," Killshot said, continuing to try and justified himself liking it.

"Calm down. I don't care. I was just asking cause it was really annoying me that I couldn't remember that song. Didn't she support the Autobots?" Dead End asked.

"Yeah, but as far as I can tell, she never went and fought in the war. Which, for her sake, is probably a good thing; I doubt she would last long. I heard she's at Talos IV right now, but I don't know for sure," Killshot said, with a shrug of his shoulders and leapt off the rock and onto the next one. "Hey, Shockwave. How far away is Skywarp from us?" he asked.

"He was moving away from us, but he's coming back," Shockwave said in his usual monotone.

"So Skywarp is flying back to us. Great. We'd come out here for nothing," Killshot complained.

"He's flying unusually quickly. He should reach us in about a cycle," Shockwave said, as he stopped in his tracks.

"A cycle? So we should be able to see him from coming very soon," Killshot said, as he hoped to a higher piece of rock. "Or at least we would if it wasn't for this damn fog. Seriously, why is there so much of it?" Killshot complained once again. He stared straight through the fog, looking for Skywarp. He waited for a few seconds to see Skywarp flame from his thrusters. Sure enough, he saw Skywarp emerged from the fog. "There's Skywarp." Killshot said. He watch Skywarp's approach and notice that as he came closer, more figures popped up behind him and he heard the sounds of gunfire. "And he brought some unwanted visitors," he said and looked at Shockwave and Dead End, who were already ready due to the fact that they could actually hear the gunfire earlier before him.

"Prepare to exchange fire," Shockwave said, his pad put up and his gun-arm ready to fire.

"Right, let's see if I can take one of those guys out," Killshot replied, drawing his gun and aiming it at one of the 'visitors.' He aimed at the head of a Cybertronian flyer, who was flying pretty straight, leaving him open. Killshot took careful aim…

_BANG!_

The shout took the Cybertronian's head off and he went crashing in a rock, not in a fireball, to Killshot's disappointment. "One down, eight more to go, I think. Oh, and just so you guys know, their flying using jetpacks. I find that pretty sweet and say we take them off their soon-to-be corpses," Killshot said, really wanting a jetpack.

"Opinion noted, but concentrate on killing the enemy first," Shockwave ordered.

"Alright, alright. Just give me a sec," Killshot replied and went back to picking them off. He aimed his gun at one of the reptilian pirate's head.

_BANG!_

The shot went right through the pirate's eye socket and out the back, killing him. Killshot went back to aiming at the another pirate, but at this point, the pirates had began to realize that there were other people shooting at them now and some of them started firing over at the Decepticons' direction. Killshot, Dead End, and Shockwave immediately took cover behind the dirt they could find with Killshot and Dead End behind one dirt ball of dirt and Shockwave behind a dirt mound, although they wouldn't really be good cover, as the shots kept taking pieces of the rock away. "Hey, Dead End, give me some cover fire while I tell Swindle about our current situation," Killshot said, as he contacted Swindle's ship.

"I can do that," Dead End said, and popped at of cover to fire with his Neutron assault rifle.

Skywarp realize that he was with his allies now and took advantage of the fact that there were more people to shoot at besides him. He took a sharp left turn and aimed at one of the Cybertronian pirates aiming at his allies. With him distracted, Skywarp fired a missile at the distracted pirate. The pirate didn't notice his end coming as it was coming closer to him…

BOOM!

The missile hit, actually leaving a fireball this time as the pirate crash and burn.

Shockwave stood behind his cover, taking pot shots whenever he could, trying to keep them at range. One of the reptilian pirates, however, thought it might be a good idea to use a more head on approach. While the Decepticons were busy shooting at his pals, he flank from behind and walk on the ground with his grav-boots. He sneak up behind Shockwave, who was currently shooting at one of the others. The pirate draw out his axe and ran quickly to Shockwave to try and land a blow before the foe notice. He was right at Shockwave as he raise the axe up and brought it down…

Only for Shockwave to grab the handle of the axe before it hit him. Just as suddenly, the pirate let go of the axe and collapse onto the ground, clutching his chest where a whole was. Shockwave stood above him with the axe still in his hand. "Wait, please don't kill me," the pirate beg. In response, Shockwave step on his chest and brought the pirate axe up in the air. "No, please don't do-" the axe buried itself inside the pirate's skull, killing him instantly. Shockwave step off the pirate and went back to engaging the other, leaving the corpse there.

_BANG!_

"Ha, gotcha! Took his head right off," Killshot yelled as he took off another one of the Cybertronian pirate's head off. Dead End traded fire with another one of the pirates while Killshot continue his conversation with Swindle. " Fragging pirates!... Yeah, we're almost done with them. Only a couple more left… Alright." Killshot addressed Dead End. "Swindle said to take care of these guys and then we'll make a plan.

"That implies we're going to shoot more. Great." Dead End remarked bitterly.

"So, are you by any chance going to add pirates into this poem of yours?"

"No, I don't think so," Dead End said as he sent a burst at a reptilian pirate. All of them hit him in the chest, killing him.

"Nice shot," Killshot complemented. Suddenly, a fireball of burning metal went right past the two and crash into the ground. The two looked at the body of the dead pirate before seeing Skywarp fly past them with another pirate on his tail. "Well, looks like Skywarp taking care of himself," Killshot noted dryly. He took notice of the fact that Shockwave was still engage with a pirate. "Hey, want to help Shockwave kill a pirate."

"What makes you think there pirates?" Dead End asked.

"The only time two different races fight together is against a intergalactic evil or together as pirates. Since I see no intergalactic evil, they have to be pirates. Plus, have you seen the way they look?" Killshot asked, pointing out the nonregulated uniforms.

"Alright fair point," Dead End agreed.

"Great, now, let's go help Shockwave kill that pirate," Killshot said happily, as he jumped off the rock towards Shockwave. Dead End sigh in annoyance and follow Killshot.

Skywarp duck, weave, and roll around as he dodged the shots of the Cybertronian pirate. A couple of the pirates shot had hit him, but they were cosmetic at worst. He dodged the shots of his pursuer, staying close to his allies. He had a plan to take care of him, but he just needed to wait for the right moment.

The moment came as he suddenly lurches up and, like he expected, the pirate follow him. Skywarp suddenly transform back to his robot mode and close line the pirate as he flew by. If he were organic, that would've ripped his head off; however, robots are a bit tougher to kill than that. Skywarp transform back into his jet mode and, while the other robot was busy shaking off the blow, rammed right into him. The jet pushed the grounder-with-wings back into one of the large balls of dirt in the air and transform back into his robot mode and, before the pirate could retaliate, plunge his servos right through his chest and into his spark-chamber. The pirate could only stare at his chest as the light dimmed in his green optics…

Shockwave was annoyed by this last reptilian pirate. This one actually stick to cover and only fire when he could do so without injuring himself. While Shockwave ponder how to deal with nuisance, Killshot jumped right next to him, empty-handed. "Hey Shock. What's up. Having a bit of trouble?" Killshot asked.

"I'm dealing with an annoyance," Shockwave answered.

"Me or the pirate?" Killshot asked cheekily.

"Both."

"Oh, well, sorry about that. If it makes you feel better, I feel the same about you," Killshot replied back, not too hurt by the statement.

"Where is Dead End?" Shockwave asked as he fire back at the pirate.

"Flanking the pirate. I figure I've killed enough right now and would let him take this one. I'm trying really hard to increase his body count," Killshot answered.

"And how is he going to eliminate the nuisance?" Shockwave asked.

"You'll see in a couple of seconds," Killshot said. "However, since I know you're just dying to find out, I lend him my null rifle."

_BANG!_


	38. S1: Jetpacks was Yes! pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Transformers belong to Hasbro.**

**XXX**

Swindle and Hook were still at the cockpit of the ship with Swindle prepping for lift-off and Hook just waiting at the side, having no idea what Swindle was doing. As far as he knew, Swindle was just pushing random buttons. "Exactly what are you doing?" Hook asked, a little rudely. Swindle didn't miss a beat as he replied:

"Prepping the ship for lift-off. The others are going to need our help," Swindle said, calmly.

"Didn't your lackey said that he had things under control?" Hook asked, condescendly.

"Yeah, he does, but there's the problems of the others," Swindle answered.

"Others?" Hook questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," Swindle said.

"Care to clarify?" Hook asked.

"You've ever dealt with pirates before?" Swindle wondered.

"No."

"Well than, long story short, their always lots of pirates around. From the sound of things, they were fighting a small group, probably no more than 10 or more. There's bound to be at least 20 more of them, wherever they came from," Swindle explained, pressing a button. At the press of the button, the ship lifted off. Once in the air, Swindle head in the direction of the allies.

"Alright, so there's a lot more of them. What are we going to do with ship to even the numbers?" Hook asked.

"Well, that's where you come in. Head to one of the computers back there," Swindle directed.

"What am I doing?" Hook asked, as he made his way to a console.

"We got a turret on the bottom of the ship that pops out. You're going to use that to shoot at the pirates," Swindle said. "You're a good shot, right?"

"I'm not the best, but I think I can manage it," Hook said, as he set down at one of the consoles. "So, how do I get to the turret from here?" Hook asked.

"Head to 'Defenses.'" Hook did so. "Then head to 'Turrets.'" Hook clicked that. "Hit the one for the bottom of the ship." Hook clicked that and a view of the ground came on the screen. Or at least there would be, if the planet wasn't so foggy.

"Alright, Swindle, I'm there. Just one problem, how am I going to see them? The fog is in my way." Hook questioned.

"The ship has different visions for you to look through. Just use the circle on the left side to change it," Swindle instructed. Hook did so, and the screen become almost completely blue.

"Hey, Swindle. Which vision is this? It's completely blue," Hook asked, a little confuse.

"You seriously don't know that? Come on, it's been in a lot of action films. Surely you've seen some of them," Swindle pointed out.

"No, I haven't. I don't watch films or anything that waste my time. I perfect my craft," Hook said, a little insulted that he thought he watch such petty things.

"Wow, really? That's pretty sad," Swindle pointed out, sounding like he pitied him.

"Oh, quit pitying me," Hook said.

"I'm not. You don't deserve it, although it does explain some things," Swindle said before getting back on point. "Anyway, that vision your in is heat vision. Let you see the heat from the body. Should be useful for tracking enemies, organic or Cybertronian, although it'll be a little hard to figure out which is a friendly and which is an enemy," Swindle explained. "Got all that?"

"Got it," Hook said.

"Alright. I'll see how it's going for them down there," Swindle said, as he try to raise the others the radio, trying to contact them. He immediately got an answer.

"Yes, Swindle?" Dead End's calm voice said on the other end.

"Is everything there alright?" Swindle asked.

"Affirmative," Shockwave said on the other line. "All pirates are eliminated."

"You're listening in, too?" Swindle asked.

"This line is open to all of us," Dead End said.

"I know. I just expected one of you to lead the conversation. So, do you know where the pirates came from?"

"Skywarp ran into them while flying around the area. He can explain better than I came, but his comm. link is a bit busted at the moment." Dead End said, calmly.

"Why?" Swindle asked. "I'm getting really tire of complications."

"Remember when he hit his head yesterday?" Dead End asked.

"Yeah, I- ah scrap. Hook, when Skywarp gets back onto the ship, you need to fix his comm. link," Swindle told the medic.

"You're kidding! Already?" Hook asked.

"Yeah, you forgot to fix it when he hit his head the other day," Swindle explain. Hook took this with a little 'humph' before returning to the screen. Swindle ignored him and went back to the radio."Alright Dead End, tell me: how did Skywarp run into the pirates?" Dead End told how Skywarp ran into the pirates, culminating in the shootout between them and the pirates. "Alright, so the big question. Why are they here?"

"I have an idea why," Shockwave said, his monotone voice cutting into the conversation.

"What is it?" Swindle asked.

"Near the end of the war, the Autobots had a stockpile of items that they had at Iacon. When we invaded it, they blasted all of that to space. My guess that one of the relics ended up here and the pirates found it. Either that or it's a place for them to store their ill-gotten gains." Shockwave said.

"A Iacon relic, here on the sinkhole?" Swindle said, a small cha-ching going off in his head at the sound of that, ignoring the other part. "Do you know how much those are worth?"

"Monetary value is not a reason to attack the pirates," Shockwave said.

"Oh, so you want to explain to Megatron how we miss the perfect opportunity to get a relic," Swindle said, stressing the Megatron part of the sentence. Megatron was perfectly willing to use whatever strategy it take to defeat the Autobots, especially using their own devices against them.

"Swindle raises a good point," Dead End confirmed with Swindle.

"Yes, he does, _if_ the information reaches Megatron," Shockwave said.

"Oh, Shockwave. Is that deceit you recommend? How surprising!" Swindle said sarcatily over the line. "Look, it's not about if Megatron knows. He will know thanks to that loyal follower of his, Soundwave. He always figures out if something went wrong," Swindle said, talking about the main source of paranoia amongst the Decepticons.

"Soundwave is excellent, but he's not perfect. He makes mistakes," Shockwave argued.

"Let's get a third-party opinion on this. Dead End, who do you side with?" Swindle asked the Nihilist. Silence remain on the other line for a few moments before Dead End answered.

"I agree with Swindle. If we don't take advantage of this and take the relic now, it could lead to unwanted consequences with Megatron down the line," Dead End explained. Swindle clapped his hand in joy at that.

"Thank you, Dead End. I'm coming up on your position soon. How are the other two, doing?" Swindle asked.

"Killshot took a jetpack from the fallen enemy and is using it right now to fly around. It should be noted that he's a crash roughly 3 times already with it. Skywarp is watching him, laughing," Dead End answered.

"Alright, tell Skywarp to take you to the entrance and we'll follow along with the ship. Use the jetpacks to follow him," Swindle ordered.

"Understood," Dead End said. Swindle turned the radio off and went back to putting his full attention to flying.

"So, a Iacon relic?" Hook asked from the back.

"Yep. I must say, this day is turning out pretty good. Lets hoped it stays that way," Swindle said.

"You do realize that your tempting fate with that statement," Hook remarked from the back.

"Yeah, well, let's hope she didn't notice," Swindle replied.

**XXX**

Dead End and Shockwave heard the click on the other end, indicating that the conversation with Swindle was over. The two looked at each other. "You realize Swindle has no intentions of giving the relic to Megatron, correct?" Shockwave asked Dead End.

"I guess that, however I also don't want Soundwave to hear about us giving pirates a relic without anything in return. Soundwave is through and if he finds that out, I'm afraid bad things would happen to us?" Dead End explained.

"You're worried about your own life," Shockwave pointed out.

"No, I'm worry about Megatron sending the DJD after us. I'm a fatalist, not a masochist," Dead End clarified. "Now come on, let's get Skywarp and head to the pirates' lair," Dead End ordered, moving towards Skywarp, who was watching Killshot failed at flying.

"Come on. You can do it," Skywarp yelled out, chuckling, obviously not believing he can do it. "Grounders really need to stay on the ground," Skywarp said to himself, as Killshot once again ran into the dirt, head first.

"Ow," Killshot said softly to himself, rubbing his head as he pick himself off the ground.

"Yep, you're definitely a master flyer," Skywarp snarked.

"Screw you!"He shouted at Skywarp as Dead End and Shockwave arrived at the scene.

"Skywarp," Dead End said to him. Skywarp turned around to the fatalist and the mad scientist.

"What? Can't you see I'm watching Killshot gloriously fail here," Skywarp said, jutting a servo at the hopeful seeker rubbing his head.

"And I say again, screw you," the aggravated sniper said to Skywarp.

"We need you to take us to the pirates' lair," Shockwave explained.

"Oooooo, we're getting payback? Alright, I'll lead you straight to them. I think I remember where they are," Skywarp said, a little excitement coming into his voice.

"Good, but first, can you teach us how to fly with the jetpacks? I imagine a seeker can give us a few tips on how to fly them," Dead End asked. Skywarp looked at the two before looking back at Killshot getting ready to fly again.

"Do I really have to?" Skywarp asked.

**XXX**

Scavenger knock on Misfire's door. "Misfire, are you alright?" he asked. No answer came through and Scavenger shoulders sank at that. There goes one more person who though he was nothing but a frag-up. Why couldn't Primus spare him a break?

Dejected, Scavenger walked backed to the lab to search for what he was looking for. He entered the room and started looking through Misfire's side again. He had to find something that would make Skywarp's death looked natural or accidental and not murder. Easier said than done with how hard cybertronians were to kill. Only surefire way to kill one was to take out the head, spark, dismemberment for massive bleed out, or certain types of acids. Not a lot of room for accidents.

Scavenger looked under Misfire's table cupboard and looked through it. It was probably smarter to look through Shockwave's side first, but it couldn't hurt to check this first. Scavenger look through the insides of the desk and notice a box. Scavenger, thinking that this was what he need, took it out and set it on top of the messy table. 'He should really clean this up sometime,' Scavenger thought to himself. He opened the silver-colored box and looked inside.

Instead of anything to help him, he found a lot of syk instead.

Hook may want to see this.

**XXX**

Zyglrox reached the lair, noticing another guard at the door. "Oh, damn. What happen to you?" The Cybertronian asked the lizard.

"I flew face first into a jet's thruster and got scorch," Zyglrox replied, some pain coming into his voice as some blood ran down his face. "The others are chasing down that bastard."

"Well, you should go get yourself patch up and report to Goliath," the guard recommended.

"I'll do that," Zyglrox replied and enter the base, leaving the guard behind. He walked through the hallways that were just bright enough for him to see where he was going, passing up several other pirates on his way there (one group apparently in the middle of a drinking game in a room he past). The dirt dig into his gray grav-boots as he arrived at the doctors' area. He walked in to see the two doctors, one of them a lizard and the other a robot, sitting down along with his commander, Goliath. Goliath was standing up, making the height difference between the two lizards. Zyglrox only reached up to the middle of the commander chest. "Ah, Zyglrox. Good to see you," Goliath deep voice rung out.

"Hey, commander," Zyglrox said a little uncomfortably. The big lizard had a way of scaring the crap out of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I figure some of my men would be injure by our intruder. Unfortunate to see I was right. Sit down and let the doctor take care of you," he said, the lizard doctor coming to make sure he was alright.

"yeah, I had an unfortunate run-in with the seeker's thrusters," Zyglrox said, as the doctor check his skull.

"Seeker? So the intruder was a Cybertronian," goliath said with interest in his voice.

"Yeah, don't know what he was doing here, but he had a weird symbol on his ches- OW! Would be a little more careful," Zyglrox told the medic.

"Your definitely in pain," the doctor said to himself, but did you get a fracture?"

"Well, I flew face first into a thruster," the soldier said.

"Then you probably have a fracture. You should stay out of the fight until it heals," the doctor recommended. "Now, to find something for the burns," the doctor said, heading to his medical storage box.

"You said he had a symbol," the Cybertronian medic said. "Do you know what it looked like?"

"I don't know. It looked a face and it had pointed ears or something like that," Zyglrox answered. A flash of fear covered the medic's face at the information as he muttered to himself:

"Oh slag."

"Is there a problem," Zyglrox asked, as the lizard doctor came back with some cream for his face.

"Yes, it means he's probably not alone. We're up against Decepticons, one of the two warring factions during the Cybertronian civil war. Goliath, we need to prepare for attack," the medic said.

"Are you sure about this, Scarhealer?" he asked him.

"Yes, I'm positive. The others who went with Zyglrox are probably dead, " he confirmed.

"Alright then. I'll get the men ready and informed Corpsegrinder of our current situation. You," he motion to Zyglrox, "stay here and let the medics heal you," he finished as he headed out the room. Zyglrox looked at the pirates departing from before looking at red-and-white Scarhealer.

"So, I'm guessing we're in a little bit of trouble, right?"

"Like no other."

**AN: Sorry for long update. Personal problems at home are making thing difficult to update, but I'm still here.**


	39. S1: Jetpacks was Yes! pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC. Hasbro owns Transformers. **

Skywarp flew the skies, leading his 'seeker group.' He turned his head to see how they were doing. Shockwave was doing the best, surprisingly. In fact, he was flying flawlessly, dodging everything in the way. Makes sense since Skywarp remember being able to change into a jet once. Of course, he doesn't now for some odd reason. Never explain why, which was Shockwave's usual thing. Never say anything except what pertains to the manner on hand.

Dead End was doing good, but not as good as Shockwave. He dodged everything that was in his way, but he was sloppy in some of those turns. Skywarp had to admit that he was not bad, for a grounder.

Killshot was definitely the worse of the bunch. Yeah, he was aeons better than before, but he was still hitting some of the objects, scratching his paint job on many of them as hit them. He might also have had a couple dents here and there in his chassis, but nothing too serious. Good flyer, he was not. An excellent source of entertainment as he try to cuss out everything he hit, he was. "Fragging dirt clumps. I will rip you aft- uh, wait. You don't have any. Scrap." Try to.

"Come on, Killshot," the actual seeker said. "I think someone who can move around as much as you do without flying would be a natural at this." Killshot heard his comment and fire back.

"Well, maybe if you actually give me reliable instructions, then maybe I could fly decently."

"Dead End doing well," Skywarp pointed out. Dead End nodded to that as he dodged another solid ball of dirt clump together.

"Yeah, well, maybe you hate me and are trying to make me fail as much as possible," Killshot theorize.

"Or you just suck," Skywarp jeered. Killshot stayed silent, contemplating a good comeback. While he was contemplating, Shockwave asked Skywarp about their progress.

"Skywarp, exactly how far away are we from the base?" Shockwave asked.

"Just a couple of cycles and we'll be there," Skywarp answered. As the conversation went on between the two, Killshot was still thinking about how to answer back. Unfortunately, his thoughts would be interrupted by an unwanted collision.

_Thunk!_

"Ah, what the frag?!" Killshot yelled out as he went off balance for a little bit. He steadied himself as he looked at what he ran into. "Ugh, I just flew into one of those organics' body! I think I got there blood on me!" he exclaimed, red liquid on his chassis.

"Better your paint job than mine," Dead End commented from next to him.

"Yeah, well here, have some," Killshot said, as he flinged it toward him. Unfortunately, physics decided to have some fun with him and the liquid immediately went back into his face and shades. "Ugh. Are you serious? This is fragging unbelievable!" Killshot exclaimed.

"I wonder," Skywarp mused, "If I start a drinking game with taking a shot every time you cursed, how long would it take for me to get overloaded?"

"Frag all of you!" Killshot yelled at them. Skywarp laughed to himself.

XXX

Goliath enter the communications room. The room was mostly the color of the dirt, brown, due to this being just a temporary place. He headed to the screen at the end of the room where a Cybertronian techie was. "Yes, Goliath?" the techie asked.

"Get in contact with Corpsegrinder, now," Goliath order. "We have some really unwanted visitors coming."

"On it," the techie said, as he tried to contact their ship. Almost immediately, the screen came only to show another Cybertronian whose would give Megatron a run for his money. He was colored a dull brown, with some black details on him. When he spoke, he asked in a deep voice. "Goliath, what's going on?" he asked.

"We got enemies here. According to the details I've heard, their Decepticons," he said. As he say that, Corpsegrinder reacted exactly how he expected. In rage. "Those pit spawns are their right now!" He screamed out at his SIC. Goliath took that sudden burst of rage calmly, in sharp contrast to the techie who screamed in terror and hid crouch behind the console to hide from the captain's rage.

"Yes, sir," Goliath answered.

"Hold those bastards off as long as you can, I'm coming over there right now. Protect that relic and the energon at all costs, got that? We need those," Corpsegrinder ordered him.

"Affirmative."

"Good. Give me a couple of megacycles and I'll be there to kill cons," Corpsegrinder said, as the other end of the line cut off. That's the bad thing about having war veterans as a captain; they always have a certain hatred for certain groups.

"Is he gone?" the techie said from under the table as he looked up from under the console. Upon seeing the captain gone, he got back up and sat down in his seat calmly. "Sorry about that, the captain scares me," the techie explained.

"It's alright. He scares most people. Nobody will hear about it," Goliath said as he started walking out of the room. "Probably," he murmur to himself as he walked into the hallways, bumping into another pirate in the hallway. Goliath didn't move a inch, but the pirate fell flat on his ass.

"Sorry about that," the pirate said, as he got back up, "but we got problems. The Decepticons were spotted by the guard. According to him, there's four of them."

"That's all?" Goliath inquired.

"So far. There could be more, but we don't know for sure."

"Alright then. Tell the pirates to get in defensive positions to guard the energon and the relic," Goliath ordered.

"Got it," the pirate said as he ran to give the pirates the orders.

"Oh, and if they're too drunk to do anything, tell them to stay out of the way. The last thing I want is easily avoidable friendly fire," Goliath ordered.

XXX

"Swindle calling in to tell you we're following you. How far away from the pirates' place?" Swindle asked the other end of the line.

"According to Skywarp, a couple of cycles," Dead End answered on the other line.

"Alright. Quick question, exactly what race are the pirates?" Swindle asked.

"About half of them are Cybertronian, while the other half I'm unsure. Never seen them before," Dead End answered honestly.

"What do they look like?"

"They're about as big as us, come in various shades of green and have scales," Dead End described the other race.

"I think I know what there are," Swindle said. "They are Arcaedians from the planet Arcaedion. Nasty place. Currently involve in a civil war like our own, but is less destructive for now," Swindle said like he was talking about a business. "High paying customers," he added as an afterthought.

"Made deals with them before?" Dead End asked.

"About 20 stellar cycles ago. Got paid big money for it. I doesn't matter who wins there war, although I would prefer it if the current government lives. Much easier to make deals with."

"Any noticeable characteristics about them?" Dead End asked.

"Nothing to worry about. They live for roughly 1000 stellar cycles, so they quite long for an organic race, which means some of them may have quite a bit of experience," Swindle informed him in his business-like tone still.

"Understand. I'll inform the others about this," Dead End said.

"One more thing. I checking the sensors, and I don't see any ships on the planet besides us," Swindle told him.

"Meaning?" Dead End asked, although from the sound of his voice, Swindle guessed he already knew.

"Pirates need a ship. That's a fact. There ship must be somewhere else right now," Swindle informed.

"Which means?" Dead End asked.

"You guys have to be quick. If their enough of them to leave some of their forces here, I imagine their ship to be a lot bigger than us. I admit, I've got some nice equipment on the sip to handle them, but we have no idea what there ship is using and I rather not figure out. Find the relic and get out of there fast," Swindle explained.

"Understood," Dead End said as the line click on the other end.

"So," Hook said from his console, "we're about to make a lot of pirates mad."

"I think mad is stating it nicely," Swindle replied. As he finished speaking, the door to the bridge opened to let in Scavenger carrying in a metal box.

"Hey, Hook. I found something you might want to see," Scavenger said as he walked towards his leader.

"Can it wait? We're about to engage in a attack," Hook said, leaving Scavenger confuse at that. Pirates? It suddenly clicked in his head.

"Pirates. You mean like pirates that hijack ships and rob people pirates?" Scavenger asked.

"Yeah, pirates," Swindle answered. "We think they have something very valuable and we're going to go get it," he explained. "You're boss is currently operating a turret design to make chunks out of enemy."

"Exactly what will this turret do to the pirates?" Hook asked.

"Let's just said that there won't be much of them left to identify them," Swindle said with a little smile to his face. As he made the comment, the radio came back online as Dead End shouted at Swindle.

"Swindle, we're at the pirates' location, but they're in defensive positions. We need some air support." Swindle heard the request and answer back swiftly.

"Got it. We're 30 seconds away. Get ready for a lot of firepower," Swindle explained as he turned off the radio. He towards Hook. "You're ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," Hook replied back a little nervously.

"Calm down. I'm sure you'll do fine. Just aim for the larger amount of targets," Swindle explained.

XXX

Dead End heard the click and turned to his allies. "Give him a few seconds. He'll be here soon," he told them.

"Alright," Killshot replied as he popped out of cover in a break of the fire and took aim at the pirates near the crater. He fire at a arcaedion, but only graze his arm as the reptile went back to cover. His allies responded kindly, firing at Killshot's position, who got back into cover. "Frag. I think the fluids on my glasses are messing up my aim," he said as he took off his glasses and began trying to wipe away the blood away using his hand.

"If you want to remove the blood from your body, I recommend using a soft material," Shockwave said.

"What's exactly is blood?" Skywarp asked.

"It's a organics' life-force. It is comparable to energon except they make it in their body instead of searching for them in the environment," Shockwave answer. As he finished his statement, he saw they ship heading their way, making very little sound. Several of the pirates blocking the entrance held their mouth open at the sight of the ship, realizing very quickly if they don't leave soon, they were screwed. It became obvious to the other pirates that the ship was not good news when it fire on them.

_SHOOM!_

The turret from the bottom of the ship fire down upon them a large laser. The laser impacted, disintegrating many of the pirates while a few of them manage to got of the radius of the blast and back into the base. The four Decepticons watch the blast as it hit the pirates. It was pretty obvious that the blast left very little survivors.

"Damn," Killshot commented as the gun stop and admired the carnage. He had to give his employer some credit. He has some wonderful toys to play with.

"I believe you guys are good to go," Swindle commented from the comm. link. "You can shower me with praise after the mission is done."


	40. S1: Invade pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's. Transformers belong to Hasbro. **

Hook looked at the screen in slight amusement. He had to admit, firing that was fun. He may not be able to see the fruits of his labor, but it was exciting firing such a huge gun. He could see why a lot of the Decepticons like firing their guns. As Swindle finished his remark to the others down below, Hook commented as well. "Don't forget about. I'm the one fire the thing." Swindle brushed his comment off.

"Please, I could get anyone to do that. You were just the closest person around." He explained.

"Even Misfire?" Hook shot back.

"Okay, maybe not anyone, but I could get anybody else to do it, like Scavenger over there," Swindle replied.

"Maybe, but he wouldn't be as good of a shot as me," Hook replied.

"I'm right here," Scavenger said softly, hoping to get his attention.

"Why? The thing practically aims for you. It would be hard to be a better shot with that thing than someone else," Swindle questioned.

"I'm just am," hook replied just a little arrogant. Okay, a lot.

"Uh, Hook. Can I talk with you in the hallway?" Scavenger butted in again.

"Is it something important?" Hook asked.

"It's about Misfire," Scavenger replied.

"So, I ask again, is it something important?" Hook said, making Scavenger known Misfire wasn't very high on his list.

"Look, I found drugs in that box over there," he whisper, pointing to the metal box.

"So?" hook questioned, not really caring about this conversation.

"It has Syk in it," Scavenger whisper. That got Hook's attention.

"Syk?" he asked in hushed tones. "You're sure?" Scavenger nodded. "Frag. We're going to have to talk about that tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow? Why not now?" Scavenger asked.

"Where is he right now?" hook asked.

"In his room, recharging…" Scavenger trailed off. "Oh."

"That's what I thought. Now, get the Syk and put it in the Med-bay. I'll talk about it tomorrow with him," Hook said. Scavenger nodded, before taking the metal box and walked out of the room.

"So," Swindle wondered, "anything you want to tell me?"

"No." Hook replied and looked back at the screen.

XXX

"So, how are we going to invade this place?" Killshot questioned the group outside the entrance to the base.

"Simple. We'll go in and find the relic, if there is one. Find a pirate and question him about. If there is, we find it and get out of here fast. If there isn't, we get out of here fast. "We have to be quick if we want to get out here before reinforcement arrives." Dead End ordered his group. The two nodded and approach the entrance, which was nothing but a large hole in the wall. Dead End and Skywarp took one side while Shockwave and Killshot took the other took the other. Dead End had his rifle out, while Shockwave had his arm cannon ready to fire. Dead End slowly poke his head inside.

_CHAGGA CHAGGA CHAGGA_

Dead End put his head back behind cover as the pirates fire at him. From the sound of the guns, they were using ballistic weapons. A bit archaic, but gets the job done all the same. From how long it was taking him to stop firing, he was using a light machine gun. Dead End stood behind cover and signals his teammates to stay behind as well. He waited for a lull in the firing to take his shot.

The calm came and Dead End quickly came out of cover and aim for the arcaedian's head as he was busy reloading his gun.

_CRACK!_

The bullet enters through the pirate's head and out the back and the pirate slump to the floor. Dead End looked in to the room, looking for any other pirates. Judging from the lack of fire, it was probably safe, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be more hiding. Dead End enters the long hallway, pointing his gun at the end of the it. There were several rooms that might have pirates in them. The other three stood at the entrance, waiting for him to say it was clear.

Dead End reach the makeshift barricade the pirate was using as support for his LMG without incident. He looked over to see the pirates laying still, a pool of blood around his head. "Shockwave, shouldn't blood be floating in the environment?" Dead End questioned the scientist.

"It should, yes," Shockwave replied back, coldly.

"Looks like they came here with a gravity generator then, because the pirate's blood is staying on the ground," Dead End pointed out.

"They came prepare to stay for awhile," Skywarp hypothesize.

"Most likely. Looks like they might have something important here after all," Dead End said mostly to himself.

_CLANG!_

"Scrap!" came a hushed voice from a room to the left. Dead End immediately put his gun up at the room. "Wait, don't shoot!" the pirate said, stepping out with his hands in the air. Another arcaedian. Dead End kept his gun up as the pirate as the others came forward towards the barricade to see how this will go. The arcaedian was shaking really bad, obviously scare shitless and was bleeding from his arm. The arcaedian was wearing nothing but some long pants and hopefully some underwear he was going to have to replace.

"Wow, I thought all pirates were fearless," Skywarp mocked the pirate.

"Okay, look. You don't have to kill me. I'm harmless," the pale-green lizard said.

"I highly doubt that, considering you were shooting at us. I remember shooting you," Killshot said, pointing out the wound on his left arm.

"Well. What was I suppose to do. You already killed some of us. I had to defend my life," the pirate said, making excuses.

"First rule, don't mess with the Decepticons unless you want to die," Skywarp said, causing the pirate's eye to widen.

"Decepticons. Oh, shit. You're not going to let me live. The captain told us stories about you guys to some of us. You leave no survivors," the arcaedian said, getting more terrify.

"Only if we have too," Dead End said, trying to calm him down, telling a half-lie. He sure didn't like killing everyone, so he would avoid it if he could. The others on the other hand, not so much.

"No, you're lying. Our captain was an Autobot stationed at the planet Devola. You slaughter everyone there. Executed any one you could find," the arcaedian said, clearly getting crazier.

"Devola? Don't you mean Dabola?" Killshot asked.

"You mean the place I was station at?" Dead End inquired, keeping his sights on the pirate. "I heard there was some serious fighting there at one point, until they decided to abandon it. Only recently they found energon deposits on it and send me, Onslaught, and everyone else there."

"Yeah, I was there under the command of some guy name Turmoil, a real aft, and his SIC, Deadlock. Deadlock was the one who order us to kill as many as we could, regardless if they surrender or not. Nice guy." Killshot answered, which cause the pirate to further relieve himself. "Man, how much do you got in you?" Killshot questioned surprised.

"I don't know, but it's getting annoy," Skywarp replied.

"Tell me," Dead End spoke, getting the conversation back on track, "is there anything here you recently uncover?"

"And can you tell us without pissing all over yourself?" Killshot asked.

"Well you let me live? Please let me live," the arcaedian barely asked.

"Yes, I'll let you live," Dead End replied.

"Okay, look. We found some canister recently. I don't know what it is, but a couple of the Cybertronian techies looked interested in it. It's probably in the labs, somewhere. Just take a left at the end of the hallway follow by two rights and a left. It should be at the end of the hallway. That's all I know, so let me live. Please," the arcaedian said. Dead End looked at the pirate who was on the verge of a breakdown and lower his gun. He wasn't going to shoot someone that pathetic. "Oh, thank you. Thank you-"

_BANG_

The arcaedian stop speaking as he looked at the hole in his chest. He put his hand there, having trouble breathing. He dropped to his knees, bleeding out quickly, as he looked at Killshot, who held the recently fire sniper rifle at him, a small smirk on his face. "Why?" he asked coarsely, barely able to speak.

"Dead End said he wouldn't shoot. He didn't say anything about me," Killshot said, resting the sniper rifle on his shoulder. The arcaedian looked at his killer before slumping to the floor, lifeless. Killshot kept that smirk on his face until he notice Dead End giving him the best death glare he could offer. "What?"

"Did you really have to do that?" Dead End asked.

"No, but it was fun," Killshot said, without a hint of regret in his voice.

"We should move on," Shockwave said, trying to break the tension between the two. Dead End's morals were getting in the way, and he couldn't have that. "The longer we wait, the more time the pirates have to prepare for us. Dead End considered the words for a second before saying:

"Fine, but no more killing unless we have to," he ordered.

"Alright," Killshot agree. As Dead End turned backed to the end of the hallway, he looked at Skywarp and shook his head. He was obviously not going to listen to Dead End. Dead End leaned down next to the body and fish something from the back of his pants.

"A pistol. Here," he said, giving it to Killshot. "Take it. In close corners like this, it'll probably serve you better than the sniper rifle." Killshot looked at him for a second, before hanging the sniper on his back and taking the pistol from Dead End. "Grab the ammo from the body and let's keep moving," Dead End ordered.

"Alright, Mister Morals," Killshot said, as he search the body.


	41. S1: Invade pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

"You know, you're lucky your skin is a lot better at taking heat than most organics," Scarhealer said to Zyglrox as he put some type of cream on the left side of his face, where most of the burns were. "A lot of organics would probably have suffered more severe ones. Luckily for you, I only need to put a gentle cleanser on it."

"Arcaedion is a really hot place," said the arcaedian doctor next to him. "Our bodies need the heat, due to us being cold blooded. However, as Zyglrox showed, that doesn't mean we can take it at higher temperatures."

"How hot is it?" Scarhealer asked.

"Pretty hot. Never looked at the numbers, just knew it was hot," the reptilian medic answered.

"Thanks for that insightful information, Equale," Zyglrox remarked, sarcastically. This was met by Scarhealer using his free hand clamp shut his mouth.

"Please don't move your mouth. You don't want to swallow this by mistake, do you? I heard it tastes horrible," he told him, as he continued to put more cream around his face for a couple of minutes. Once done, he let go of his jaw and stare and the newly whiten face of Zyglorx. "You're good. It's all done. Just don't wipe the cream off and add some more every once and awhile."

"Good, now can I have a look at him?" Equale asked. "I want to make sure whether or not he has a concussion."

"Be my guest," Scarhealer said, as he walk off to the side to let him work. Equale approach Zyglrox, staring at the lizard's eyes.

"Well, good news and bad news. Good news: your eyes are not burn. Bad news: your pupils are unequal sizes, a symptom of a skull fracture. You said you've had a headache from ramming into the thrusters, correct?" Zyglrox nodded. "Yep, probably a fracture."

"Didn't you already guess I had one?" Zyglrox asked.

"Yes, but I wanted to make sure," Equale said.

"Alright so how bad is it?" Zyglrox asked.

"My opinion, it's nothing too serious since you're not unconscious, but enough to keep you out for a little while, probably just a simple or a linear fracture."

"Simple and linear are good, right?" Zyglrox asked.

"Yes, they are. All you have to do is rest the pain off."

"And that's why I like not being a organic," Scarhealer commented. "We're much harder to hurt."

"You still get kill by bullets," Zyglrox remarked.

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

The three looked at the doorway where the shots came from. "Frag, looks like they're already attacking the base. I'm locking the door," Scarhealer said as he headed for the door.

"What about anybody else that wants to hide in here?" Equale asked.

"They can hide in another room. The last thing I want is to get in a fight with Decepticons," Scarhealer said anxiously.

"Have you fought them before?" Equale asked.

"Several times. I'm a ex-Autobot. I had to take care of a lot of people who suffer through Decpticon's brutality like the plague. I had to see some disturbing things during my time with the Autobots, but I'd still stayed with them until Devola…" he drifted off at that, not paying attention to the other two, but getting lost in the memories there. The two lizards looked at each other at the sight, before Equale decided to snap him out of it. He walked up to him and snap his fingers in front of the ex-Bot.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Scarhealer did a double-take and stare at Equale.

"I blanked out, didn't I," the Cybertronian said, his voice a little low. The shots kept ringing our from the hall.

"What happen in Devola?" Zyglrox asked.

"Some of the other Arcaedians have already heard of it, so you can ask them about it, but not me. I don't want to talk about that," Scarhealer said, heading to one of the corners and sit there, looking at the ground. The lizards look at each other again before asking a question.

"Can you at least give us the short version?" Equale asked. Scarhealer looked at the ground, using a hand to rub his brow. The gunfire had stopped. He answered.

"It was a massacre."

XXX

Dead End lowered his weapon as the last hostile dropped. He walked up through the hallway, looking through each room that they past that were open. Most of the rooms were open and empty, but a couple were closed and locked. Killshot suggested barging through while Skywarp saying something along the lines of teleporting in and killing them, but Dead End objected to that. The faster they got this done, the better.

Shockwave wasn't with the group, staying at the end of the hallway from earlier and watching the side that the group didn't walk to. They didn't want to run the risk of being flanked so had Shockwave stayed there and killed anyone that tried to flank them. His hard to pierce through armor would make it hard for them to take him down and he could hold them off until the others came back.

The three walk to the end of the corridor that turned right. So far, the pirate's instructions were good. They were hoping that they stay that way. Dead End has his gun up as he neared the turn, along with Skywarp and his hand blaster and Killshot with his newly acquired pistol. The dirt crunch slightly under their feet as they neared it. Dead End, now there, slowly edged his head out the corridor.

_Crack! Crack! Crack! _

Dead End put his head back behind the cover of the solid dirt wall. He was surprise that the dirt was holding up well, but that didn't mean it was clean. Bits of dirt were falling down from the ceiling and onto his frame, sticking to him and getting through the openings in his frame that will take forever to get out. While Dead End was thinking about the dirt and not the incoming fire from the corner, Killshot and Skywarp were wondering how to take the next group of pirates out. "How about you teleport behind them and shoot them in the back?" Killshot asked the seeker.

"Maybe. They'll have to not be paying any attention to me in order for me to back-shot these guys," Skywarp answered.

"Just leave that to me and Morals here," he said, indicating Dead End. Dead End caught that sentence and asked a question.

"Are you seriously going to call me that?" Dead End asked.

"Hey, it's either that or emo. Which do you prefer?" Killshot said, giving him the choice. Dead End gave a annoy intake of air before answering.

"I guess that's better than the alternative. Still, couldn't hurt if you call me by my actual name," Dead End said, really wanting him to actually call him by his name.

"Are you two done bickering?" Skywarp asked. "I swear, you two argue worst than by trinemates."

"Who does that make me?" Killshot asked, the gunfire from the hallway not bothering him at all.

"Who do you think. You're a assassin, someone who specializes in killing someone from behind. Old Screamer has chronic backstabbing-disorder. Fit the pieces together," Skywarp remarked bitterly.

"That makes Dead End the dead guy. Nice!" he comment, the gunfire rising to its climax. He grinned at that before realizing the scowl that was deepening more and more that Skywarp was giving him meant in didn't take that comment well. "Hey, sorry. Just pointing out, you know," he tried to apologize.

"Shut it and let me look around the corridor. You're lucky I'm not butchering your body and selling it to Swindle for that comment," Skywarp remarked acidly, heading towards the turn. Killshot let him past, and Dead End move to let him peak through. While Skywarp got ready to stick his head out, Dead End gave Killshot a dirty, signifying his wasn't impressed by Killshot calling him a dead guy either. Killshot merely shrug his shoulder and looked away, finding the dirt to be important looking.

Skywarp stick his head around the corner and withdraw back to it a moment later as the gunfire rain down on him. In that moment, he got to see how long the end of the hall was and got to see how many there were: six. And at that moment, all of them were looking at his direction. Good. Skywarp prepare himself, thinking of a spot near the end of the hallway, but not close enough to be seen by whoever was at the next hallway.

With himself prepare, he teleported in a blue haze and appear near the end of the hallway with the pirates all looking somewhere else, instead of at him. Skywarp took advantage of this and creep over to the nearest pirate, a cybertronian. The pirate was shooting what look like a LMG and was pretty experience with it, considering the fact that the gut was burst firing instead of firing off every bullet he could. He was taking cover behind a flip-over table in the middle of the room that looked like it was drag out here instead of being already there. The rest of the pirates were taking cover behind the doorway, taking pot shots at the end of the hallway whenever they can, lighting the room up better than these weak light bulbs could.

Skywarp creped over to him, trying his hardest to remain quiet. A bit odd, considering that he usually charged at the targets with little regards for safety, but that was different. Before, he had a whole lot of other people who could get shot instead of him. Now, he only had two people who could get shot instead of him. He had to take this guy out without attracting too much attention. Once he got that nice LMG of his, than he would go loud. Very loud….

Skywarp was close enough now to get the drop on him. He stretched his claw-like fingers. They were about to get little dirty. As the cybertronian got ready to fire another burst, Skywarp attacked before he could. Skywarp let his fingers fly towards the back of the Cybertronian head, the gunfire from the other pirates hiding the sounds of a hand going through a head. The pirate could only feel a sharp pain at multiple parts in the back of his head, before everything went black.

Skywarp took his hand out of the pirate's head, letting the body fall down. He quickly took cover behind the table and wait to see if they would fire on him. When the lack of bullets started hitting him, he lifted his up above his cover to see the pirates all still shooting at the same spot. Smiling slightly at their stupidness, he checked the amount of ammo still left in the machine gun. A quick look showed about 50 shots left. Skywarp's g grin got even bigger at this and started aiming his gun at the pirates.

Meanwhile, Dead End and Killshot were still waiting for Skywarp to do whatever he do to help kill the pirates. Dead End was waiting for their cue, while Killshot was checking the pistol's condition. He knew bullet based guns had a habit of jamming under bad conditions. While the cave/base wasn't bad, there was still dirt falling from the ceiling that could jam his gun and last thing he wanted was to be against someone who had a working gun when his was crapping out on him.

Satisfied with his gun's condition, he looked at Dead End's scowl. Okay, he definitely didn't like what he said, but come on! He must enjoy being compared to a Dead Guy. The guy was emo to the core. He was supposed to be alright with comments like that. He even describe himself as a fatalist.

Before he could think about it even more, he and Dead End heard the pirates' screaming in surprise and pain. Must be there cue. Together, the two stepped out of the corridor and took aim. Two pirates had already fallen by the time they came out, and Skywarp was in the middle of giving a pirate his daily lead recommendation. The two other pirates were too busy trying to aim at the seeker that were slaughtering their allies to pay attention to the two that were about to shoot them in the head.

_Crack! Crack!_

Two rang out from different guns and one bullet enter into each of the pirate's head. The two collapse to the ground as a spray of red came out of Killshot's target while blue came out of Dead End's target. Skywarp's targets were all bleeding profusely, dying or dead. The two grounders walked t the seeker's location behind the table. "That was a good way to relieve some of my anger," Skywarp said to the pistoler. Killshot ignore that comment and listen to his music. He wasn't getting in anymore arguments today.

"Alright, so we take the right around this corridor and then take another left. After that, we should reach the room where the device is," Dead End said.

"How many more you think are going to be in our way?" Skywarp asked. In response, Dead End stick his head out of the door and then immediately brought his head back into cover as bullets and lasers came from the next hallway.

"A few."

XXX

Misfire woke up from recharge still having a headache. It hurts if you're wondering. That headache was not going away and he needed that syk now. Scavenger had finally stopped knocking at door, so he figured that it was safe to go out now. He walked over to the door, grasping his head as he went along. He clicked the button which made the door slide open automatically. He looked out the hallway…

…and saw Scavenger walking towards the med-bay with his box full of syk. Misfire was shock at this. That fragger had invaded his privacy and stole his stuff. That was unacceptable. That was wrong.

It was a Decepticon thing to do.

Before Misfire could think about going over there and stealing that box from the pathetic loser's hands, he had walk into the Med-lab and enter the room. A red light above the door indicated that it was lock, meaning he couldn't go back in there and steal it back.

Upset at this, he went back to his room, closing and locked it. He went back to his berth and laid down on it. He had to live through this headache instead of forgetting about it. He couldn't make any more of the substance as the headache was too much of a problem at the moment. If it got worse or didn't go away, he would have to get that check out…

…which he can use to maybe steal the box back.

Misfire grinned at this, despite the pounding headache. He had an out. He just had to wait a little while. Coming back too soon might end with saying he just haven't give his healing systems enough time to heal it. Of course, he couldn't let it get any better either.

Misfire stood up and thought of something he was going to regret. He prepare himself, getting ready for more pain that was to follow. He started running for the wall…

… and smashed his head into it. Misfire stumbled to the ground from the hit, holding both hands on his head to try to ignore the pain. Yeah, really stupid move on his part, but it was worth it if he could steal that syk back.

Satisfied with his pulsating headache, Misfire went back to his berth and laid down, waiting for the right moment to head to the med-bay.


	42. S1: Invade pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's in the story. Transformers belongs to the bros over at Hasbro.**

Shockwave fired at one of the pirates that tried coming through the corridor. The pirate prove to be smarter and quicker that the last one (who was currently on the floor with a massive hole in his chest) and immediately retreated back into cover behind the dirt wall corridor.

Aside from that pirate, there were two in the center of the hallway, using a really hard table they bought for cover and another one was a little closer hiding in a room. Amongst the dead pirates was one who was closer than any of the other pirates and hiding behind a table. His downfall was the fact that he used a weak table that Shockwave's gun could easily punch through instead of a strong one like the other two were using; proving that just because you're hiding behind something doesn't mean it's impenetrable.

The pirates behind the table rise out of cover again and fired at Shockwave again. All of their shots hit, but none of them proving to be very damaging as Shockwave just brushed them off and continue firing at the pirates. The pirates wisely duck behind cover as Shockwave fired at them. It seemed as if the battle had grown to a stalemate, with Shockwave not budging, and the pirates unable to move ahead. However, it seems as if one the pirates behind the table had a bright idea.

Shockwave continue firing at them, keeping them down. During a break in the fire, the pirate briefly came out of cover and threw something over at Shockwave, before heading back into cover. Shockwave briefly took time out of firing at his enemies to look at the object.

A grenade.

Most people probably would be slack-jaw at the prospect of a grenade landing at their feet and curse their gods for their leck before getting blown up, but Shockwave was not most people. In response to this, he quickly kick the grenade, sending flying to the doorway in which a pirate was using to hide from Shockwave. His reaction to the grenade was on par with most people.

_BOOM!_

XXX

"Lots of these bastards left," Killshot said as he fired another shot into an arcaedian's head before sliding back into cover. "One less now, though."

"No kidding," Skywarp muttered in agreement as he shot at another pirate. They were currently hiding behind a durable table. They were almost at the door now. They had just made it to the end of this hallway. Unfortunately, the hallway branched into two directions, causing them to take fire from two directions. Skywarp and Killshot agreed to keep hold the line so that they had a way out while Dead End head for the relic, due to him being the best in indoor combat like this.

"How long do you think it'll take emo to get the relic, assuming he can reach it?" Killshot asked the seeker.

"Emo? You mean Dead End? I'm thinking 10 cycles if things are easier on his end. 20 if things are more difficult," Skywarp replied back.

"That's optimistic. I have him getting it done in 30. More than likely, I think he's going to die," Killshot weighed in on his opinions as he fired again, hitting a pirate in the leg, causing him to collapse behind cover. "How long do you think we'll last?"

"That, I'm not so sure on. A lot of them are coming at us. We can't kill them all. We've got to retreat sometime," Skywarp said, as he fired at a pirate who peaked out of cover.

"I know. I'm saying that what happens if emo isn't fast enough?" Killshot asked.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I really don't want my first time back in action to end failure," Skywarp replied. "Although, if we have to leave someone behind, it definitely wouldn't be him."

"Let me guess. That would me," Killshot answered for Skywarp.

"Great job. How did you figure that out?" Skywarp asked in a voice so sarcastic, it bounced off fake surprise and almost sounded sincere.

"Okay, look, I know I'd made a rude-" Skywarp gave him a look, "…a very rude thing, but can you just leave that behind for some pirate killing?" Killshot asked, trying his hardest to sound like he cared. Skywarp thought this over a little bit before giving a reply.

"Only until this mission is over. After that, it's straight back to hating you," Skywarp answered.

"Is that all you can do for me?" Killshot asked.

"Take it or leave it," Skywarp replied back. Killshot gave a groan before answering.

"Fine," he said, offering his hand. "Shake on it?"

"Shake on it," Skywarp said, shaking his hand. After this the two both pop out of cover and began firing on the pirates.

XXX

Dead End was right outside of the room. He just had to deal with a few pirates that were in his way. To be correct, it was two arcaedian who were all hiding behind different cover in the room and if they so much as see Dead End stick a single finger out, they would fire. It was not good odds.

Dead End thought of all the ways he could get out of this mess. Retreat? He could do that, but then Soundwave could hear about their failure and failure was not tolerated well in the Decepticons. Suicidal charge? A handsome idea, but no. Pirates would probably leave a ugly corpse and that's if he died. The pirates would probably do some humiliating things to him if he lived and Dead End didn't like that idea. If he dies, he wants to die with some dignity.

Stuck in between a rock and a hard place, Dead End wondered what to do. He had to be strategic about this. What could he do to even the odds? Dead End took a look at his surroundings. No way to flank them, so he can't do that. He didn't have grenades (which he will fix by the time of the next mission), so he couldn't bomb the slag out of them. Honestly, there was nothing to do against them in the crappy base with its crappy walls and its crappy lights and its cra-

Wait. The lights. Now he had an idea.

"Killshot, can you do something for me?" he asked the sniper over the comm. link.

"What? We're a little busy right now," Killshot said, gunfire coming in through his line.

"Can you shoot the lights on your side that's near to me?" Dead End asked.

"Uh, yeah. Why? It's not like these lights do much anyway," Killshot inquired.

"Just do it," Dead End ordered harshly.

"Alright, alright, calm down. No need to get all cranky," Killshot muttered, more gunfire in his direction. In a moment, Dead End saw the lights go out near him one by one until it just left the ones right above him and the ones in the room. Dead End took the light above him out and waited for the reactions of the ones in the room. All of them stayed where they were and not firing their guns, except for the one trigger-happy pirate who decided to shout at him.

"Come on out, you coward! I'm gonna kill you!" Dead End didn't say anything in return, but just wonder on how to get the lights in the room out. "Come on out already!" Maybe he could slowly take the lights without exposing himself. "You're scare!?" That could work. Yeah, it could work. "I think I know what'll get you out!" More gunfire came from the room, along with the shattering of glass and the room getting darker.

"What are you doing?!" one of his allies shouted to him.

"It's obvious he won't come out unless it's dark so I'm making it dark!" The stupid pirate shouted.

"And you're making it harder for us to see him,"

"So?"

"So, how can we shoot a target we can't see?"

Dead End popped his head out to see the two pirates arguing with each instead of looking at the invader with a gun that was killing their allies. Obviously, they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. IN just a few seconds, they had stooped to name-calling.

"Idiot."

"Loser!"

"Moron!"

"You're mom is a whore!"

"She's _your_ mom too! And she always loved me more!"

Dead End only stared at the stupidly before walking in the room. Obviously, the two hated each more than they hated him and judging by the look on the gun-happy pirate's face at the last comment, were more than likely to start a fight in 3, 2, 1….

"That's it! You're going down!" the trigger-happy pirate said, delivering a punch to his brother's face. The punch connected, sending the pirate to the floor. "How do you like that?!" the always shouting brother screamed. In response to this unwise taunt, his brother swept the floor from under him with his feet. At that point, the two brothers just started wrestling with each other.

Dead End stared at the two for a little while before looking around the room. The place had a few scanning devices, some easily moveable tables, and a few cybertronian containers. The room had the same dirt interior as the rest of the base. The thing that caught his intention was on a table at the back of the room that had a container with a light indicating it had something in it. Dead End headed for the container, ignoring the fighting siblings, and opened the box to find the prize he was looking for: A data cylinder.

Dead End heard some rumors about how these devices and knew that some cybertronians were willing to pay a great amount in order to retrieve this back. These cylinders had a vast amount of information that range from medical knowledge to stellar cartography. With the device found, Dead End put it back in the container, due to them being very tough to destroy, and carry it out of the room, the two brothers still fighting. He contacted everybody on his way out the room. "Everybody, get ready to leave, I've got the relic. Swindle, you're ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I've got the ship ready to go. Just fly up here. The door will be open," Swindle told them. "Also, make sure that relic doesn't take any damage, otherwise this was all for nothing."

"Understood," Dead End said, as he entered the hallway Skywarp and Killshot were. Dead End dodged the gunfire heading his way and used the container to block some of the shots. Skywarp and Killshot were still holding the line, but weren't going to hold out much longer.

"Took you long enough," Skywarp tensely said. "Let's get out of here."

"Don't have to tell me twi- of slag! Scrapmaker!" Killshot screamed out. At this, the two look to see a really big arcaedian walking out with, indeed, a Scrapmaker**[1]**. And it was spinning up too…

"Get out of here, now!" Dead End shouted and everybody listened as the three of them ducked into the next hallway as the pirate let loose with his gun. The three manage to dodge this in time and were now running down the next hallway, dodging the dead bodies in their way. The three ran as quick as they could, not wanting to be shot in the back by the approaching swarm. They had reached the turn to the next hallway, just as the pirates enter their hallway. The group continued running and soon was in the next hallway, where Shockwave was stilling holding the group of pirates back still, undaunted. "Let's go!" Dead End shouted as he reached his position and the group leaved for the exit.

The group was outside now and Skywarp immediately transformed into his jet form as everybody else started up their jetpacks and followed Skywarp to the ship hovering above the hole. As they were flying, the pirates were stepping out of the base and firing their gun at the group. In response to this, the ship's gun started aiming for them. The pirates, remembering the first, immediately stopped firing and heading back into the base before it could start firing at them. The Decepticons flew to the ship and entered it without further incident and closed the ship's door. With that, the ship flew out of the atmosphere, leaving Espera behind.

The pirates exit the base again to see the ship flying away, leaving them with many dead and their relic stolen. Most of the pirates were talking about how they were able to lose so badly to four soldiers and a single, admittedly powerful, ship. However, Goliath was think of one thing on his mind as the ship flew away.

"Corpsegrinder is going to be pissed."

XXX

**[1] The Scrapmaker is basically a Cybertronian equivalent of a minigun, for those of you who haven't played either of the Transformers games High Moon as released recently.**

**AN: Sorry for the long delay. School and general laziness is a killer on the time I can work on this. **


	43. S1: Like Voltage pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs. Hasbro owns Transformers.**

An hour later everyone, sans Misfire, was on the bridge, sitting at the table. Swindle was at the head of table, thinking about the relic found on Espera. He knew already what it was; a data cylinder. The main question was what did it held? Of course, Swindle uploaded to the ship's database and examined it already. He was just here to tell everybody else.

"Hey, cheapskate. You're going to tell else what's in the cylinder," Killshot asked from the other end of the table.

"Yes, I will," Swindle replied back sounding just a bit smug, "if my employee would learn not to insult me. Doing so would be bad for his pay grade." Killshot took that to heart and immediately shut up. "Alright, before I say what's on it, can someone tell me where Misfire is?" At that request, Scavenger immediately tried to shrink himself down in his chair. Instead of making himself less noticeable, it drew Swindle's attention. "Scavenger, you're looking like you know something. Want to tell us something?" Swindle asked with the most comforting smile he could. Scavenger gave a laborious intake before drawing himself out of his seat and explained where Misfire was.

"Uh, yeah. I think it's my fault he's not here. He's locked himself in his room right now," Scavenger explained quickly, hoping to get this over with quickly. Swindle's face stayed the same, smiling at him and telling him to continue. "I was sort of looking in the lab for stuff that is completely not important right now," Scavenger said, trying his hardest to skip over the stuff he was looking for, although everybody raised a eyebrow that that part (except Shockwave, that eyebrow-less Cyclops), "and while searching, Misfire sort of walk in and trip on my tail."

"Wait, hold up," Skywarp interrupted. "He trip on your tail? How's that possible. You're tail is _bright-green,_" he pointed out in an unbelievable tone. "It's as hard to see as a squad of Autobots firing their guns in the air."

"To be fair," Hook pointed out, "Misfire isn't exactly in the right state if mind half the mind. It also doesn't help that he has a attention deficit hyperactivity disorder."

"He has ADHD?" Swindle asked

"Yes."

"…Who the heck would hire him to be an actor if he has that?" Swindle asked him in an incredulous tone. "Generally, being an actor requires some attention."

"I don't know. I'm a doctor, not a director," Hook said with a wave of his hands. Swindle held his head trying to think of why someone would hire someone with ADHD as a actor before giving up. He learned a long time ago that directors and anything movie related was making less sense as time went by, so it was a wasted effort to figure out what goes through their heads.

"Alright, let's get back on track," Dead End said to the group, trying to get them back to the main subject at hand.

"Agree. Tell us Swindle, what does the data Cylinder contained," Shockwave asked in the same monotone voice he always had.

"Oh yeah, that. To put it simply, it holds stellar cartography. For those wondering (Skywarp), cartography is basically maps," Swindle explained to the group.

"Wow, I'd risked my life for something we already have," Killshot interjected from the other end bitterly.

"No, you risk your life for something we partially have," Swindle corrected. Killshot raised a eyebrow at that. "Yes, the map we have of the known universe is already big, but it's hardly the whole universe. Here let me show you," Swindle said, hitting a button under the table. At that, a 3D image came up of the universe on the table. A section of the universe, about 5% of it, was colored red while the other was kept blue. There was also some black patches in the blue. "The red part is known space that we already known, the blue is the unknown part of the universe that's just begging to be explored," Swindle explained.

"Wow, it's that big?" Killshot asked. Swindle shook his head yes. "Wow, didn't see that coming."

"May I step in for a moment and ask exactly what the black part is?" Dead End asked Swindle.

"That? Those would be some space abominations waiting to destroy the universe." The room was in an unsettling silence at that. "Relax, it was just a joke. No need to go crazy over it. It's really nothing, but some coding error. Age has corrupted some of it, leaving it un-viewable to us until we fix that. I'm no computer expert and I know most of you only know how to do basic stuff so we can't fix it, but I know someone who is. I'll send that data to him to try and fix it while we continue chasing after those mercs," Swindle explain to the whole group.

"Good, I've been meaning to tear their heads off," Skywarp seethe.

"You're going to have to wait a little longer for that, so don't go all kill everything mode on us yet," Swindle said to the seeker.

"Why?" Skywarp asked.

"Still haven't located them yet. Once I do, we'll go over there, kill them, impress Megatron, and then go throw a party. Sound good?" Swindle tried to calm down the agitated seeker. Skywarp gave a short scoff before agreeing to it. "Alright, good. I said that today has been a stressing day for most of us, with all the gun-fights and everything, so I said we all just spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want, just as long as you don't break anything," he said, directing that last statement mainly at his employee. "Meeting adjourn." At that, half the room immediately left, those being Hook, Scavenger, and Skywarp. The other three stayed in there seat, looking at Swindle, who was casually ignoring them and walking back to his ship.

"Hey, Swindle, come back," Killshot yelled after the arms dealer. Swindle stopped and looked at him, flashing a smile.

"What?" he asked in his cheerful voice.

"Exactly where are we going next? And don't say you don't know, cause I can tell by the fact you're telling us to relax as a sign that we're about to run into bad stuff," Killshot explained. Swindle looked at the other two, his smile going down a little bit.

"Let me guess, you notice it too," Swindle said. The two gave their agreements. "Well, scrap. Alright, I'll tell you," Swindle said, sitting back down in his seat. "You see, a little while ago, just a moment before we left Espera, I intercepted a distress call from a space station."

"So, what? How does it matter to us?" Killshot asked

"If you learn to shut up, then maybe I can continue," Swindle bark back at the sniper. "Now. As I was saying, I got a distress call from the space station. Nothing too special about. Just a Decepticon distress called, figure I'll let someone else take care of it."

"But," Dead End came in, as if he knew this was coming.

"But, I got another distress called from the space station. An Autobot distress call. Now, ask yourself this, what would cause both sides to call for help? Most battles pretty much ends with one side completely dominating the other. It's practically unheard of for both sides to send in distress calls. So, the question is what can happen so that both sides make a distress called?"

"A third-party," Shockwave answered.

"Got it! I'm thinking that the mercs are attacking the space station tight now. I figure, if we head over there, we can go over there and take care of them," Swindle explained.

"Well, I guess that's a good plan," Dead End said, "but what if it isn't the mercs."

"They're still Decepticons in trouble. We go there, take care of the situation, and win some respect points from Megatron. It's a win-win situation, no matter how you look at it," Swindle explained. "So, if I were you guys, I get ready. We'll be there by tomorrow," Swindle finished and got back up from his seat to head to the pilot's seat. The other three looked at each other before getting up and heading to their own places.

XXX

"You let the escape with the relic!" Corpsegrinder wanted to slaughter someone.

"They came prepare, I hate to say it," Goliath said to his captain. He too, had the intense neeed to kill something, although he had better control over it than his captain.

"Prepare? Why wouldn't you prepare?!" Corpsegrinder questioned/yelled at his SIC, his fist really wanting to punch him in the face.

"We didn't expect anyone to come here, much less Decepticons," Goliath answered. Corpsegrinder scary expression still hadn't gone away. "But, we do know what they look like. We got a couple of cameras in the hallways to watch the area."

"Where can we watch these," Corpsegrinder questioned/threaten his SIC.

"Tech room, but I already did that and got photos of each one set up for you to look at," the arcaedian said and motioned for a datapad from a fellow pirate. The pirate ran over and gave him the datapad, which he gave to the Corpsegrinder. Corpsegrinder looked through each photo. A walking Cyclops, a commando, a seeker,…

Killshot.

"Him…." Corpsegrinder seethe.

"Uh, you're alright," Goliath asked.

"Not in the slightest," he answered and showed him the picture of Killshot. "You see this 'Con. He's one of the reasons I got out of the war. This guy, along with that bastard partner of his, Deadlock, and their CO, Turmoil, slaughter all of my men on Devola. They did it ruthlessly and without mercy. I've wanted revenge on these guys for a long time…." Corpsegrinder stopped paying attention to what's around him and started thinking about Devola. So many dead….

"Sir?" Goliath asked. Corpsegrinder snapped out of his reverie and looked at his SIC before giving orders.

"Mine the rest of the energon and report back to the ship with everyone once you're done. After this, we're chasing after them."


	44. S1: Like Voltage pt 2

**Disclaimer: I only own the OC's and the general plotline. Transformers belong to Hasbro.  
**

**AN: Two chapters in one day. Wow, can't believe I'm doing this.**

**Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow hotel, nighttime **

Cooldown was on the 23rd floor, walking through the halls towards his and Warmup's room. A couple of days ago, Bombline had brought them here to get the money from their employer and left to meet him as soon as they arrive on the planet, leaving them to fend for themselves for a little while. He had given them instructions to wait here at the hotel while he was getting money from the job. He later said that he wouldn't be with them for a little while longer as he had made a deal with their employer for another job and was making arrangements for the job.

This was a little annoying for Cooldown, but he got over it quickly. He and Warmup went to this fancy hotel and wait for him to get back. Cooldown had gone out a little while to explore the area for anything of interest. So far, the only thing worth noting was the bars, the arena where a concert was for Rosanna, with poster on the arena walls (Hey, Look at me, I'm waving; I'm in need of saving), and the capitol building nearby where Metalhawk was. He had just gotten back from exploring the area and was coming in to recharge for the night.

He had reached the door and opened it to let himself inside. It opened, showing his room. In it were two berths on the right side of the room and a table on the far wall. Om the left was a single large-screen TV with two cabinets to the left of it, holding energon and various other substances. TO go along with that, a unexpected guess was sitting at the table.

"Hello, Cooldown," Bombline said to the cyan grounder. Cooldown gave a momentarily look of surprise before switching to a casual smile.

"Hey there, Bombline. The deal went good I'm guessing," Cooldown said to his friend.

"50,000 shanix added to our account seems like a good deal, although I'm not here to talk about that," he answered, getting up and giving a look around the room. "Tell me, where's Warmup?" he asked.

"I don't know. He was here when I'd last saw him," Cooldown replied. Bombline frown at that. "But I could give him a call and see where he is," Cooldown said to call him down, bringing a communicator out. "Just give me a second." Cooldown pressed some buttons on the device, trying to get Warmup. It took a few seconds before an answer music and a voice came from it. The music was some extremely poppy synths while the voice sounded like some high-pitch harpy singing, instantly giving pain into the other two mercenary's hearing.

_Hey, look at me, I'm waving.  
I am in need of some saving.  
I can't help looking at you.  
I got this ticket here for two. _

"Hey, Coolly, what's up," Warmup voice pierce through singing, letting the two hear him.

"Warmup, where in the pit are you and why don't you sound like you're in pain," Cooldown asked his twin.

"I'm at the arena, watching Rosanna shake those find hips around," Warmup said, lust dripping from his voice. "I wonder how much she buffers those."

_Hey come here, I want to share something  
I want to show you where it all begun  
Me and you, hanging around at this special place  
Where me and you can go at our own pace_

"Get your head out of the gutter and come to the hotel," Bombline shouted to the crimson grounder.

"Oh, Bomby, you're there. What's up, man?" Warmup asked the jet.

"We got a job and want to inform you about it, so come over here right now instead of watching that pop-star move around," Bombline told the car.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you watch her move around right now. Damn…." Warmup said, getting more and more attracted to the singer.

_I want to go to a place where we can be safe  
A place where we can live without strafe  
A world we can just lay around  
Where love and happiness abounds_

"I swear, those lyrics are the epitome of cheese," Cooldown said.

"I don't care. Look, I'll be there once the concert's over, alright?" Warmup told them.

"Ugh, fine. Don't do anything stupid, alright?" Cooldown told his twin.

"You got it," Warmup said.

_Hey, look at me, I'm waving  
I am in need of- _He hung up.

"You were too nice to him," Bombline said to Cooldown.

"What do you expect, he's my twin. Besides, he's allowed some fine every now and then," Cooldown defended Warmup.

"I would agree, if it wasn't for the fact we're leaving tomorrow," Bombline said.

"Oh, well then, sorry," Cooldown said, sincerity somewhere else right now.

"Ugh, never mind. I'll just explain it right now to you," Bombline said as he went t take a seat the table in the room. He motion for Cooldown to come sit down as well. He agreed, taking a seat opposite of Bombline. "Alright, you know that ship we ran into on Cybertron?" A shake of the head yes. "Well, our employer knows the captain of the ship. He a Decepticon called Swindle."

"I've heard of him," Cooldown interjected. "He's a black marker dealer, right?"

"Correct. The guy has been on dealer since before the war begun, building up a web of connections to use to help him wheel and deal. He has many allies, but few actual friends."

"A bit of a loner," Cooldown said.

"Right. The guy is captain of the ship, "The Merchant," and uses it to move around the universe and carry cargo. Our job is to either capture him or kill him, and bring him to the employer. Bring him alive will give us a substantially higher pay than killing him."

"How much?"

"250,000 shanix alive. 100,000 dead." Cooldown gave a double take at that.

"You're serious?" he questioned unbelievably.

"Yes, I am," Bombline confirmed.

"Damn, that's a lot of shanix." Cooldown gave Bombline a serious looked. "What did Swindle do to piss him off this much?"

"I don't know. He's a arms dealer. He's bound to make some people mad," Bombline hypothesize.

"Good point. So when will we leave tomorrow?" the car asked the jet.

"As earliest as we can. I would rest as much as you can before we leave," he informed him as he got up from the seat. "You can informed you twin about all of this when he gets here. Until then, I'm going to my room. Later," Bombline said, as he exited the room, leaving Cooldown to himself.

Now by himself, he thought briefly about this Swindle character. A black market dealer was a potentially dangerous person and could be hard to find. What did he do to get the employer this mad to send a strikingly high price on his head? With all of these thoughts in his head, he got up to the left cabinet and opened it up. He looked at the carious liquids before picking his poison: Sweet Dream Fuel. Alright, not that poisonous.

He picked up a couple of glassed from it and close the cabinet. He went back to the table and set the stuff down. He opened the bottle of Sweet Dreams Fuel and pour some in the two glasses, before setting it back down and sit down, holding a glass in his hand, waiting for Warmup to come back.

XXX

"There, all done. You're internal comm. should be working properly now," Hook said to Skywarp.

"Finally, took you long enough. Any longer and I would've been punching you in the face," Skywarp aspirated.

"You know it's not a good idea to threaten you're medic who a perfect job at fixing you," Hook threaten.

"If you were perfect the first time, I wouldn't be having comm. problems in the first place," Skywarp fired back at the Constructicon.

"Shut up and get out of here," Hook told the annoying Seeker.

"Alright, you purple-and-green monstrosity," Skywarp said as he headed for the door. Hook wanted to give the disrespectful punk a swift kick in the aft for the comment, but chose not to. It would be unwise to make rivalries on this ship. Skywarp opened the door and walked out, bumping into his fellow flyer in the process.

"Watch where you're going you idiot," Skywarp said to Misfire before walking away. Misfire, in response, gave him a strongly symbolic and meaningful middle finger. Skywarp didn't see this and kept walking away. Misfire watched him go before he entered the room. Inside, Hook was cleaning his equipment. Scavenger was nowhere to be found.

"Hey there, Hook. Can you come look at mine head?" Misfire asked the doctor. Hook responded by motioning with a flick of his hand to take a seat at the table. Misfire abided by sitting at the table. He looked around the room, looking for his batch of syk.

"So, you trip over's Scavenger's tail and hurt your head, correct?" Hook said, approaching the flyer.

"Yeah, see this dent? I think something important was hurt there," Misfire told his doctor.

"A dent, that's it? I swear, some people complain about the stupidest thing," Hook bemoaned.

"Hey, Scavenger was the one who wanted me to come here, not me," Misfire explained.

"Of course he did. He's all worry that a single injury could lead to the end of someone's life if we're not quick enough. Bah!" Hook said, earning a look from Misfire. "What?"

"I've never heard someone say that," Misfire answered.

"What?" Hook wondered.

"That sound. Bah! I've always seen it written down, never said out loud," Misfire explained.

"Oh, for the love of- Okay, look, take this," he said, handing him a device. "This is a buffer, use it to buff that dent out. Shouldn't be too hard," Hook ordered him.

"Alright, thanks for telling me that, even though I'd already knew that," Misfire said, observing the buffer.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just give it back to me after you're done with it," Hook said. At that comment, Misfire optics got a little wider. He was holding Hook's buffer….

"Okay, ew. Take it back," Misfire said to the medic, holding it out so he could take it back.

"Oh, don't be a protoform who's just learned to speak. I clean it often enough," Hook reassured the jet. At the end of that comment, his communicator beeped. He got it out and analysis it. "Oh, you got to be kidding me…." He looked at the jet. "Scavenger got himself in a bit of trouble in the cargo hold. Something along the lines being in mortal danger from something called a Kremzeek." Misfire looked confuse. "Yeah, I don't know either. Apparently, his reactions too it are 'It's killing me!" to 'It's ticking me! Make it stop!' Misfire face got even more confused.

"And I thought I imagine some crazy stuff," Misfire said.

"Yeah, you go do whatever. I'll go make sure he's okay," Hook said, as he exited the room, leaving Misfire to himself. Misfire waited until the door closed, before springing into action and begin searching the room for his drugs. They had to stash it somewhere in here. Misfire checked the cabinets first.

Nothing.

He checked the drawers.

Nothing.

He checked under the desks.

Nothing.

Cursing at Primus, he wondered where the heck those drugs could be. He sat in the chair behind the desk, thinking about. He gaze lifelessly at the room, not reacting to anything. Just looking around at the room, wondering where those drugs we-

Wait. There was something under the table. Misfire went over there and looked under the table. The box was there. The junkie grabbed the box and opened it up.

His precious syk.

His prize in hand, he got and headed out of the room. Today was looking to be a good day.


	45. S1: Like Voltage pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs and the general plotline. Hasbro owns Transformers. **

**Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Carthage Arena, nighttime**

Warmup hung up and concentrated on Rosanne moving performance. _Very_ moving performance. She moved all across the stage, inspiring the people around her to sing along with her in her pink getup. Warmup had to admit that he was also considering singing along with her. It was very convincing…

_Let's go out together  
We're birds of a feather  
No one else exist but us  
I call that a plus_

…until he heard those lyrics. Ugh. Couldn't she sing about something besides romance. Also, what in the pit does 'birds of a feather' mean. He knows what birds are (comes with fighting on other planets), but he never heard the term before. Ugh.

_Come on now, let's explore the berth  
It's not just my turf  
We can practice some plug-and-play  
Let's quit this stupid naiveté_

Double UGH! No double yeah for her. What in the heck was 'plug-and-play?' Is it a wrestling move? Is it some forbidden technique? Or, quite possibly, was it some stupid term she made up? All these thoughts enter Warmup's mind as she kept spouting out insipid lyrics. He was honestly considering leaving. Yeah, she was pretty good-looking, but that didn't mean he didn't know bad lyrics when he heard it. Of course, he could pass the time by doing something else.

He scanned the area. Lots of people around the area, most of them mechs wanting to get in a room alone with her. Some of them were femmes, who _also_ wanted to get in a room alone with her. Not many people here who were not interested in the events at hand here.

Except for one particular femme nearby.

"You suck. Get out of here, you talentless glitch in the system!" Oh yeah, there was someone here who kinda agree with him. Yeah, the singer was a waste of time listening, but not a waste of time alone somewhere private. Warmup gaze at the insulting femme. She had a small, thin stature and a slick design. Green was her color with no other color adorning here except regular grey metal around certain parts of her body. She kept yelling about how horrible Rosanne was, although it was mostly drown out by the even louder screaming from the crowds. Warmup couldn't help but smile at her fury for hating this music. "Leave the place before I set fire to it!" Perhaps a little too much fury.

"You're alright? You seem a little crazy!" Warmup attemted to ask the motorcycle, but was meant with ignorance as she kept screaming at the pop-star. Warmup gave a low groaned before taking a hold of her. "Calm down. The lyrics may be bad and the music is cheesy, but looking at her isn't too bad," Warmup said, trying to calm the streaking femme down. This work as well as expected.

"Don't you see the horribleness of the music? She has to be stop! It's an affront to all kind!" She yelled at the suffering car. Warmup gave a slight groan before continuing on.

"Yeah, I do see the horribleness. I just said it, but you're not listening to me. If you just calm down and-

_CLANK!_

Warmup felt a pain in his face as the femme punched him. "Screw you! You obviously only care for her body and useless to me," The hot temper femme said. Warmup recovered quickly from that slap and glare at his assaulter.

"Okay, first off, what's your name? I want to know the name on the person whose face I'm about to punch in," Warmup asked the physical femme.

"It's Echostar, loser!" she yelled out, getting into a fighting position.

"Isn't that cute," Warmup taunted.

"Shut up!" she yelled back.

"Uh-hum," someone said to the side. Both of them turn to see a brown-and-purple mech with red eyes of a normal stature who looked to be a flyer and had a pistol in his hand. "It's obvious that you two are causing a disturbance, so I ask that you leave right now, unless of course you want to give me a reason for discharging my gun," the mech said, his finger on the trigger.

"Hey, I'm doing nothing wrong here. She's the one who attack me!" Warmup said to the mech.

"You want to said that again, you punk!" the femme replied to his comment, taking a step forward.

"Um, yeah, since you're blind. You attack me first, you crazy glitch!" he retorted, taking a step forward.

"Oh, it's not my fault that you're an idiot who cares only for body type instead of the incredibly bad music playing here!" She answered back, getting closer to the music dumb.

"Both of you shut it! Now!" the mech yelled at the two, silencing them. "Alright, I'm only going to say this once. Follow me or I start shooting, got it?" The silence from the two answer his question. "Great, this way," he said. "Geez, I can't believe I've gone from a Senate enforcer to this," he added under his breath. He lead them away from the crowd to outside the arena without incident. The guard said "And stay out!" before heading back in, saying something along the lines of getting a drink, leaving the bickering couple outside.

"Well," Echostar muttered, "this sucks."

"Tell me about it," Warmup agreed.

"Screw you. You're the reason I'm out here in the first place. If it wasn't for you, I would be in there telling everybody about her awful music instead of being out here with some plug-and-play addict."

"There's that term again. What does it mean?" Warmup asked to the femme.

"Look it up yourself, aft!" Echostar replied before transforming and driving off, leaving the mercenary by himself.

"Smooth moves, idiot," he chastised himself before transforming and driving in the opposite direction to the hotel.

XXX

**The Merchant**

Hook arrived at the cargo hold. The first thing he noticed was that everything was organized in neat order. Weapons, supplies, etc. were split into different sections, and the items in those sections were further section off into more sections, making everything neat and tidy. Swindle may be a bit sleazy, but he was organized.

Oh, and Scavenger was being chased around by a little, yellow… thing. Honestly, Hook had no idea what it was. It just looked like someone took a flame and attach appendages to it. It was kind of freaking Hook out a little bit. Scavenger was more than a little bit freaked out. "Hook, you're finally here! Help me! It won't quit shocking me!" Scavenger yelled out to Hook. Hook watched the two run around for a little bit before bringing his communicator out.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that, right after I called Swindle," he said, as he got Swindle to answer.

"Swindle here, what do you need?" he asked the medic.

"Uh, yeah. We got something in the cargo out here called a Kremzeek and-"

"It's out! Why is it out!?" Swindle yelled at Hook.

"I don't know. Just tell me how to contain the damn thing," Hook said to Swindle.

"Is there a rubber box there?" Swindle asked.

"Hold on, give me a sec," he told Swindle. "Hey Scavenger, is there a rubber box somewhere?"

"Yeah, it should be over there next to the weapo- OUCH! It shocked me again!" Scavenger shouted out loud.

"That's a yes," Hook said to Swindle.

"Alright. Get it and put the Kremzeek in it," Swindle ordered him. "And don't hurt him. Seriously, don't. You won't live long once I get my hands on you if it's hurt," Swindle threaten.

"You care about it that much?" Hook asked.

"No, I don't. It's just that, uh, I have a client who wants one and he's paying a large sum for it," Swindle 'clarified.'

"Alright, if you said so," Hook said in a manner that he didn't believe Swindle for one second. "Good-bye, Swindle." He hung up and looked at Scavenger still being shock and chased by the Kremzeek. He let out a groan before heading for the rubber box.

XXX

Swindle looked at the communicator before placing it back. Killshot gaze at him from the seat next to him in the cockpit. Dead End was sitting at a chair on the bridge reading something, but was having his reading disturbed by the conversation between Swindle and Hook. After Swindle hung up, he asked him, "Didn't you said at one point that you didn't trade organism?" Dead End asked.

"I'm not planning on trading him. He like… a pet," Swindle replied.

"That you keep in the cargo gold," Killshot snarked right next to him.

"Oh, shut it," Swindle told him.

"Exactly where did you get one?" Dead End asked.

"I visited a planet. After getting off a planet, I found it in the cargo hold. I capture it and planned on selling it. However, the damned the thing gave me the cutest face possible, almost as if it was begging me not to sell him. I eventually consented. Space gets very lonely when you're by yourself," Swindle said, telling the cut-and-dried version of events.

"Wow, I was expecting more carnage," Killshot replied next to him.

"You thought wrong, now shut up," Swindle told him.

"Alright, just one question: exactly what is a Kremzeek?" Killshot asked.

"A Kremzeek is a being of pure energy. It can shock you, fry you, and kill you, if given enough time. Luckily, they're more mischievous than cold-blooded killers," Swindle explain.

"Ah, so Hook and Scavenger will be okay, right?" Killshot asked.

"Oh yeah, they probably will be. They'll just be very pissed."

XXX

"Get back here you little bastard!" Hook screamed at the Kremzeek. Said bastard was dodging every swipe that Hook was giving him and was making weird noises with his mouth. Hook swore that it was taunting him. Scavenger was standing off to the side, watching Hook fail miserably. The two were running around the room, in what appear to be a never-ending cycle. Hook dodges, Kremzeek dodges, repeat ad nausem. It continued, not changing at all.

Until the Kremzeek got a little too close to Scavenger.

The Kremzeek jumped and landed right on Scavenger's face and shocked him. The amount of volts he poured in him was enough to get Scavenger to make a loud scream of agony that would make Overlord smile. Scavenger started running around with the little ball of energy covering his face and shocking him in random intervals of pain. Hook watched this in momentary amusement before continuing with trying to catch the damn thing.

XXX

Misfire had got a bit of syk and had gotten ready for the injection. All it took was a little bit for the effects to kick in, but Misfire decided to go a little bit over the amount needed to get better effects from it. Misfire look at the dark-yellow substance before setting the syringe over the injection spot right in the center of the forearm; the head and body wasn't the best place to inject them in. Misfire hover the needle over the site, hyping himself up for it as this was always his least favorite part. Needles _suck_.

Misfire lowered the needle down into his forearm quickly and injected himself.

The effect was almost immediate. Senses flare. Perception heightens. Intense need to move. Body surged with energy. Mind buzzed. Awakeness. It was… wonderful feeling all of this. It was like voltage running through him.

He was _alive_.

XXX

"Why! Don't! You! Give! Up!" Hook screamed at the Kremzeek as it dodged his swipe with the box. Scavenger was currently on the ground, offline. The Kremzeek was still bouncing around, not being catch. Obviously, Hook was not amused. "Alright!" Hook said in a fatigued tone. "You win, you electric monster. You win! Happy!"

The Kremzeek stopped running and looked at the constructicon. "I am tire of chasing a stupid electric ball of annoyance like you. You are not a being of pure energy, but a being of pure hatred. A hatred for me! And for the love of primus, how is it a being of pure energy cast a shadow. Seriously, it doesn't make sense!" Hook ranted at the little imp, before slumping down to the floor, the rubber box falling to the floor upside-down. The Kremeek looked at Hook in what looked almost like sympathy. The Kremzeek hop over to the tired medic, and job on top of the box. Hook noticed this and looked at the thing.

"You're giving up?" Hook asked the electrical menace. The thing shook its whatever it counts as a head, yes. "Well then, let me open the box for you." The imp agreed and hop off the box so Hook can flip it back over and let the Kremzeek back in. Hook attached the rubber lid on top of it, sealing it in. With that done, he laid down on the floor.

That was a tiring experience.


	46. S1: Bliss pt 1

**Disclaimer: I only own the Oc's and the plotline. Transformers is own by Hasbro.**

**XXX**

**Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel, nighttime**

Warmup entered the hotel. The lobby and was a nice and clean place, with antique Cybertronian furniture laying around in neat order. The area was painted a comforting blue color. A pure white mech was waiting behind the lobby on the computer, waiting to help anybody. "Good evening, sir. It's nice to see you again. Do you need any help?" the all too kind worker asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks. Just checking into my room for the night, uh, whatsyourface" Warmup up said to whatsyourface, much to his annoyance.

"It's Whiteout, sir," the mech said to the mercenary.

"Yeah, whatever," the rude mech said as he headed to the elevators. Whiteout gave a sigh before heading back to work on the computer. Warmup continued on, walking to the elevators. He entered the area and gaze at the sight of a black femme with purple-and-yellow trimmings and a tall stature. Warmup gazed longingly at the femme. She had a very nice and sleek design that was really shiny, showing that she really cared about her looks. She stood with her arm cross, looking rather impatient at waiting for the elevator. She hit the button again, trying in vain to make the thing go faster. "You realize that doesn't work," Warmup said to the femme. Said femme glared at him.

"So? It makes me feel better. Need to take my aggression out on _something_," the femme said, still looking irritated, almost as if she was angry at something else.

"Are you okay?" Warmup asked. Had to find a way to spend some time while waiting for the elevator.

"Yeah, it's just, ugh," the femme moaned. "My sparkmate has to postpone coming here. His job just got a little more interesting and could be getting paid more for it," the femme revealed.

"Oh, you have a sparkmate?" Warmup asked, a little surprise. A femme this good-looking shouldn't settle down for only one person.

"Yeah, I do," the femme said. "Been sparkmates for a long time now," the femme said.

_Ding!_

The elevator opened, inviting to two to enter. The two entered the compartment and the femme click the 13th floor. "Click the 23rd floor for me," Warmup said. The femme conceded to that and the elevator closed. "How did you two meet?" Warmup asked.

"It was back before the war. It was a regular day, just me getting ready to go around and hang out with some friends, until my creator inform he got me a bodyguard that would begin protecting me," the femme explain.

"A bodyguard?" Warmup asked.

"Yeah, my creator was a senator," she explained. 3rd floor now. "At the time, he had some very unpopular opinion and some people wanted him gone and would do anything to get to him. That included hurting his precious creation. So, he hired this guy to protect me and, well, we fell in love. It took a while, but we worked it out," the femme said, happiness coming from her voice. 7th floor now. "We've been together since. When the war started, he tried to stayed neutral and stayed on it while he got me a one-way ship off the planet. Next time I'd saw him, he was working for the Decepticons. Didn't explain why, just was. I could tell just by looking at him that he'd seen some ugly stuff," the femme said, a shiver coming to her voice. 10th floor now.

"I imagined so. Heard they did some seriously sick stuff, Warmup chipped in.

"Yeah, anyway, now that the war is nearing an end, he has more freedom to move around and do what he wants. The Autobots are on their last soldiers and are nearing a end," the femme said. "Thank Primus, this war was really getting old."

_Ding!_

13th floor. The door opened, letting the femme out. "Bye, uh, whatsyourface," The red grounder said to the femme. The femme turned around and corrected him just as the door closed.

"It's Thunderblast."

XXXThe Merchant

Killshot entered the cargo hold. Swindle had ordered him to go there and help the Constructicons, as they hadn't answered when Swindle buzzed them to ask how there doing. The first thing he noticed was Scavenger on the floor, temporally offline; with some scorch marks on his face. Looked like the Kremzeek shocked him hard. The next thing he noticed was Hook on the floor, still online, with the rubber box next to him. Hook glared at him as he entered the room. "Oh, great. The monoformer is here. This is just getting better," Hook moaned out.

"I may be a monoformer, but at least I have a good paint job. Seriously, purple and green?" Killshot fired back.

"It was Scrapper's idea, not mine," Hook replied. "He kept going on and on how they we needed something to separate us from others," he said as he got up all the floor. "I told him to just make a symbol to distinguish us from everybody else, but noooo, he insisted we're all color-coordinated. That we're all painted purple-and-green, not caring that that is a really ugly color combination. Nope, he said that we looked great. Ugh?" hook complained out loud.

"Wow, you really have some issues with Scrapper, don't you," Killshot commented.

"A few," Hook said with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter now. I don't work with him anymore. Maybe I should change my colors?" Hook thought to himself.

"It would certainly be a good thing," Killshot gave his opinion. He looked over at the other medic. "Looks like he got quite a shock," Killshot noted.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out why he was down here in the first place," Hook said. Killshot tilted his head away from Hook and started scratching his head nervously.

"Yeah, I sure don't either," Killshot replied back a little nervously. Hook did not let his nervousness go unnoticed.

"You're acting a bit suspicious. Is there a reason why?" Hook investigated.

"What, me? Of course not," Killshot replied rather inconvincibly, walking towards the ammo section.

"Monoformer," Hook said in a low and threatening tone, "I'll let you know that Shockwave isn't the only person here that has experience torturing people, so tell me before I'm tempted to use my scalpel," Hook told Killshot. The assassin caved in.

"Alright, alright, fine. I asked Scavenger over the communicator to go get some bullets for my newly acquired pistol that I was sure Swindle had. In fact, I think I see them over here," Killshot said, picking up a metal box, as Hook frown went deeper. "Yeah, this is it. Anyway, I'm sure that Scavenger just didn't follow my direction and opened up the rubber box and cause the whole racket here," Killshot explained, Hook looking furious. "Yeah, bye!" Killshot yelled as he ran out the door, leaving Hook to attend the patient by himself.

Hook looked at the door the retreating monoformer ran through before returning his attention to his patient. Scavenger was shock pretty badly, but the scorch marks were nothing to worry about. The real problem was if the wires in his head were fried. There could be any number of problems mentally if they're fried. With his diagnosis complete, he put the rubber box up and then picked up Scavenger and carried him out the room.

XXX

Swindle was pressing a few buttons, trying to call Onslaught. Dead End, who was standing behind Swindle, wanted to see if he was okay without a second in commend. Swindle would've argue with him about how Onslaught was perfectly fine by himself, but decided not too due too the fact that he kinda need to talk to Onslaught too for more personal reason. What can he say, Onslaught was one of the few people he called a friend.

Within a few seconds, someone answered on the other side, but instead of Onslaught, a new face answered. He was colored black-and-white with yellow blotches in random places. "Hello, Swindle and Dead End," he greeted them. Swindle raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't act surprise. I know both of you decent enough from other people. I think I'd bought a gun or two off of you as well," he informed them. Suddenly, swindle was able to put a name to the face, one that he knew quite well.

"Deadlock! Nice to see you. What are you doing over at Dabola?" he asked.

"I'm here to replace Dead End as SIC over here," he replied. Dead End took it relatively well.

"I guess there's worse he could use to replace me," Dead End said. "You must be doing something right to have Onslaught called you first," Dead End complemented.

"Third," Deadlock corrected.

"Uh."

"I was third on his list of people to called to come in to replace you. Both of them were too busy to help," Deadlock told him. "If I'm correct, he had 10 possible replacements for you."

"Oh, is that all," Dead End muttered sarcastically.

"Actually, the list was just this galaxy alone. We're not including all the other ones," Deadlock corrected again, much to Dead End continued annoyance.

"Yay, woo. I'm expendable," Dead End cheered in the most deadpan voice possible.

"Yeah… I guess. So why did you two called?" Deadlock asked the two.

"Dead End here wanted to known if Onslaught was alright without him. Judging by your presence, I'd say everything's find there without him," Swindle answered for them.

"Obviously. Anyway, can you do me a favor?" Deadlock asked Swindle.

"Depends on what it is. Is it anything difficult?" Swindle asked.

"Nothing difficult. I just want you to tell Killshot to get off his aft and give me a damn call. Honestly, I've haven't heard from neither him nor Lugnutz since we were on Dabola together with Turmoil," Deadlock explained. "I get too many calls from Turmoil though," he aspirated.

"Yeah, I can do that for you. He be here to talk to you pretty quickly," Swindle confirmed.

"Give me a couple of cycles. I picking up reports of a major fight in the lounge." Deadlock face went blank for a second. "We have a lounge?"

"Yes, on both accounts," Swindle answered. Deadlock contemplated that for a few seconds.

"Make that a couple of megacycles," Deadlock said before the screen turned off, leaving Swindle and Dead End by themselves in a slightly awkward silence, before Dead End went back to his seat to read some poetry. Swindle decided not to point out he looked a bit angrier on his walk and just kept the ship going to the distress coordinates.

**XXX**

Misfire laid sitted on his berth, enjoying the high he was getting from this. Honestly, nothing was better than this. He never had syk before, due to everybody calling it too dangerous to use because it does some mess up things to you. Even Mixmaster wouldn't let him use or how to make it, keeping it to himself. Although, they made have been to addiction than him caring about Misfire. Honestly, judging from the high that he was feeling, they were overreacting. Honestly, this was so good. It was... it was...

Bliss.

"Hey, idiot. You really shouldn't use that," a voice said next to him on his left. Misfire was a little surprise at that, considering he was sure he lock the damn door. Still, he didn't react too much, turning his head slowly to see who it was. When he saw the owner of the voice, he just about did a doubletake.

It was Slugslinger, standing up and looking at him, with many little holes in him...


	47. S1: Bliss pt 2

**Disclaimer: I only own the plotline and the OC's. Transformers is owned by the bros at Hasbro. **

**XXX**

**Talos Four, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel, 23****rd**** floor, nighttime**

_DING!_

The elevator opened, letting Warmup out. Warmup walked into the hallway, taking a left. He walked in a slightly erratic pace, slightly slowing down or speeding up with no discernible reason. The hallway was painted like the lobby, only in a slightly lighter shade of blue than before. There were some miscellaneous items on the walls such as paintings of landscapes, portraits of notable Cybertronians, and the occasional mirror.

Warmup arrived at his and Cooldown's room and opened it. Inside, he saw Cooldown sitting down at the table, gulping down the rest of the liquid in his glass, before setting the glass back on the table. He got the bottle and began pouring more in the glass. "Hey Warmup," he greeted, done pouring and putting the bottle back on the table. He grabbed the glassed and took a sip while signaling for him to come over. Warmup obliged, taking a seat at the table and taking a drink. Almost immediately, he spited it out.

"Ugh, Sweet Dreams Fuel," Warmup spat out in disgust. "Way too sweet for me," he complained. Cooldown drank down the rest of his with no problems and setting his glass down.

"Well then, I guess you won't be drinking that," Cooldown pointed out the rest of the drink in Warmup's hand. Warmup looked at it before passing it too him. Cooldown drank it down quickly and set it back down on the table, before pouring more in the glasses. "So, how was the concert?" he asked, done pouring and getting ready to take another drink. "I didn't expect you back so quickly."

"That's because I got kicked out," Warmup remarked bitterly. "This femme was protesting Rosanne, which, to be fair, her music is pretty bad, but she is a great femme to look at," the red twin told his blue twin. "I tried to calm her down, but instead I got in an argument with her and got a security guard to come over and kicked the both of out. Ugh, I'd really wanted to hit that femme."

"It looks like she hit you," Cooldown said, gulping down the first glass and moving on to the second one.

"Wait, it does?" Warmup asked, holding his face.

"Yeah, you got a scratch right on the left side of your face," Cooldown informed. Warmup began feeling the right side of his face. "Your other left," he corrected him. Warmup did what he said and felt the other side of his face.

"That glitch, I'm gonna have to buffer this out," the red mech complained.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Listen, we got this amazing opportunity to make a look of money," Cooldown said. Warmup looked at him strangely.

"Another job, already?" Warmup complained.

"Yes, another one and it's a very high-paying one," he said, as he downed the second glass.

**XXX**

**The Merchant**

Killshot sat in his room, shaking his head to his music, loading bullets into his clips for his pistol. The caliber was a pretty high and had some serious stopping power, great for both organic and synthetic life forms. Still, it was a good idea to have armor-piercing bullets to further help him pierce through synthetic beings.

Suddenly, someone knock on the door. Killshot didn't hear it though; as he was too busy listening to his music. He just kept on loading the clips for the gun. In response, a blue haze appeared in front of the door, showing Skywarp. Skywarp gazed around the room. On the left side, Killshot (who still didn't notice Skywarp) was on the berth on the left side of the room, with a pin-up of Rosanne above the berth and his visor on a table at the end of the berth. On the right was a big-screen TV that was currently off. On the far end was a mini armory, consisting of a variety of sniper rifles, bullets for non-energy sniper rifles, and accessories.

"Hey," Skywarp said to the assassin, trying to get his attention. He didn't react to him at all. Skywarp approach him saying, "Hey, Mr. Should-learn-when-to-keep-his-mouth-shut, I'm in your room, about to take all you stuff. You better stop me," Skywarp told the sniper. The grounder kept on listening to his music, which was starting to annoy the seeker. The music was loud and obnoxious. Skywarp decided he was going to have to get physical with the idiot. He was right beside of him now and position his hand behind his head. Skywarp brought his hand up and slam it right in the back of his head.

"OW!" Connection made. Killshot spilled his bullets to the floor and start grasping his head. "Okay, I didn't need that to happen to me again so quickly. Ow…." Killshot complained. He looked at the seeker with contempt. "How did you get in anyway? I lock the door so nobody would bother me," Killshot asked, lowering his headphones to his neck and lowering the volume so he can hear the seeker.

"Uh, I can teleport. Remember?" Skywarp told the selective-memory mech.

"Oh yeah, right. Did you really have to slap me?" he asked.

"No, but it sure felt good," Skywarp confessed. Killshot glared even harder at the seeker.

"So, why are you here?" Killshot asked.

"Swindle told me to tell you two things. Number one: the bullets you got from the cargo are being deducted from your pay-"

"He heard about that already?" Killshot complained.

"Number two," Skywarp ignored him, "you are to answer a called from Deadlock in a megacycle or two. I can't remember," Skywarp informed.

"Deadlock? What does he want? He is asking me to join a pow-wow, 'cause I'm kinda busy right now," Killshot asked Skywarp.

"I don't know. From what I heard, I think he just wants to talk to you. He said you two haven't talked in a while," Skywarp informed the assassin.

"Oh, yeah. Let me guess. He wants to talk about all the good times we had on Dabola," Killshot drifting off a little bit. "Man, those were some really fun times," Killshot remembered.

"Yeah, look, I don't want to know all about the violent times you two had with each other, but just be sure to be on the bridge in a megacycle or two to answer the call, alright," Skywarp told him before teleporting out, leaving the assassin by himself. The assassin stare at the blank space where the jet was for a few seconds before crouching down to pick up the bullets from the floor.

**XXX**

Scavenger couldn't really feel anything at the moment. He felt completely weightless, as if he was just floating in a blank space. He was just gliding along, noticing nothing. He just floated around in a constant state of bliss.

**XXX**

In the med-lab, Hook and Shockwave was busy looking through the expose back of Scavenger head. The wires in his head were a bit fried, but were still operational, meaning he still had control of his body. His brain module was a slightly different story. Some of the shell was in too bad of a condition to be of any use, with bits of it actually almost sticking to the inside of it. Hook had to cut the shell out and insert new one to preserve the brain module and actually keep his assistant alive and active.

"Explain to me why I m here assisting you?" Shockwave asked the doctor. Hook gave him a aside glance before explaining.

"I need an assistant. You're the one I trust the most on this ship. All the others I'm sure would attempt to screw me over in some way, I actively dislike, or are just annoying," Hook explained. "Now, give me the laser scalpel. I have to cut the fried shell of the brain module out," he ordered. Shockwave agreed, giving him the laser scalpel. Hook grabbed it and began cutting through the shell. Shockwave looked on with his ominous optic.

Hook began at the top of the shell, cutting it down slowly. Scavenger didn't react to it, lying completely still. "You've turn his pain receptors off," Shockwave noticed. Hook kept dragging the scalpel down, being a quarter of a way there now.

"Yes, I did. Its procedure," Hook replied, three-eighths of the way down. "Doesn't mean I do it all the time," Hook ominously said. Hook kept going down, reaching five-eighths of the way there before Shockwave spoke up again.

"Exactly what am I suppose to do besides giving you your instruments?" he asked. Three-fourths of the way there.

"I need you to hold his brain module while I take the rest of the shell out and replace it with another one," Hook answered. Almost there.

"Sounds simple enough," Shockwave commented.

"Yes, it does. Done," Hook said, placing the scalpel aside. "Retractor," he ordered, sticking his hand out. Shockwave agreed, giving it to him. Hook insert it into the small gap, making it bigger. "Forceps," he requested. Shockwave gave it to him. Hook inserted the forceps in and brought them back out with the brain module in it, wires still attached to it. "Hold this for a second," he said to Shockwave, who hold it in his hand. "I need to disconnect the wires," Hook said, and proceeded to do so. He took the wires out one at a time, and place them back in shell until he was done.

"Alright, hold on to that while I cut that shell out," Hook said. He took the scalpel and began cutting through the shell out of the head. He disconnected any wires stuck to the shell and cut the pieces out that were sticking to the head. Half an hour later, he was done, the old shell lying on the side away from Scavenger. He took one half of the new shell and inserted it in, connecting the wires to it and securing it in place.

"Give me the brain module back," Hook said. Shockwave gave it back and Hook inserted it back in, connecting all the wires of the shell back to the brain module. After that, he got the second half of the shell and connected it to the brain module before putting it back in. "Laser welder," he said, and Shockwave gave it to him. Hook used it to connect the two pieces back together the shell, making sure not to hit any of the wires. Scavenger didn't need any more wounds. With that done, he started connecting the back pieces of his head back together with the welder.

"Are we finished?" Shockwave asked. Hook didn't even spare him a glance as he connected the back of the head back together.

"Yes, you can go back to your lab and continue with whatever you were doing," Hook told him. Shockwave understand and went out of the room, leaving Hook alone with Scavenger's form. Hook continue on until he was done, connecting the back of the head to Scavenger. With this done, Hook set his tools done and gaze at his work. It was good, almost perfect in fact. The only sign surgery was done in the first place was some small scars and those could be buffed. TO bad he didn't have his buffer on hand or he could=

Wait; was that his buffer on his desk?

Hook walked to his desk and grabbed the buffer. Misfire didn't have enough time to use the buffer to fully use the buffer, so why was it back in his possession already? Hook thought this over a little bit, before heading back to Scavenger's form. He may not know now, but he'll figure it out tomorrow during their therapy session. Right now, he had to buffer the scar out of his assistant's head.

**XXX**

Misfire gazed into Slugslinger's optics- actually, scratch that. Optic. The left one was shot out. The blue jet lean against the wall, looking down on the Misfire as he sat down on the berth. He was currently smiling, which was pretty unnerving, considering all the holes in him. "So, how you're doing?" Slugslinger asked his trinemate.

"Uh, I may have leak some transmission fluid, but other than that, I'm fine," Misfire said, rather calmly, considering there was a walking corpse that he killed in front of him. "I'm certainly better than you," Misfire snark back. Slugslinger frowned at that.

"Yeah, I guess you are," he said, looking down at himself, as if he just noticed all the holes in him, "but I digress. I must say, despite the holes, I still look better than you," Slugslinger jeer, making fun of Misfire's scar. "How much did getting those hurt, on a scale of 1 to 10?" he asked.

"Eh, I'm not sure, but I'd say it was somewhere over nine-thousand," Misfire replied. They stared at each other for a little longer. "So, where's Triggerhappy? Did he have a date somewhere else? Some good-looking mechs and femmes have died during the war and it wouldn't surprise me if he hooked up with some of them," Misfire asked. In response, Slugslinger looked across from Misfire.

"Right there," he told him. Misfire turned to see Trigggerhappy leaning against the wall on the other side. Liked Slugslinger, he had a blue paint job. Also liked Slugslinger, he kept his gruesome injury, in this case, everything above the jaw was gone. He was 'gazing' down at Misfire. 'Gazing' being use on loose terms. "Sorry for him not speaking," Slugslinger said behind him, sounding a bit sarcastic, "he's a bit shy. You won't be getting head from him anytime soon." Triggerhappy replied to that by sticking his middle finger up at him. "Sorry, I'd had to say that."

"Uh, guys, exactly why are you here?" Misfire asked. Slugslinger looked at the jet.

"A combination of drugs and guilt," he replied. Triggerhappy nodded his jaw in approval.

"Wow, I didn't know syk had that effect," Misfire said. Misfire noticed something he said. "Wait, guilt? Ha, yeah right. I don't feel guilt!" Misfire blew him off, although he sounded a bit nervous at that. Triggerhappy shook his jaw up-and-down.

"Triggerhappy's right. You do," Slugslinger said. Triggerhappy gave some weird hand motions. "In fact, so guilty, you get yourself high every time you think about your actions," Slugslinger translated for him.

"That not's true! Shut up!" Misfire shouted at his hallucinations. "I'm trying to get high here! Not get a therapy lesson, so shut up," Misfire said, sounding a bit like a mad man.

"Misfire, admit it. You're guilty over causing our deaths," Slugslinger tried to coax.

"I may have been involve in your death, but I wasn't involve in Triggerhappy's. He got shot by a sniper. What was I suppose to do about that, uh?" he asked.

"You were still involved. You just don't realize it. Think about it," Slugslinger said. "In fact, you were directly and indirectly involved with everyone's death; Ours, Blackout, Fulcrum, the Vehicons,.. _all of them_.

"No, I'm not," Misfire said, holding his hands to his heads, holding back a headache. "Now go away, just go away. Go away, go away, go away…." Misfire repeated to himself And he kept repeating, repeating, repeating, over, over, and over again.

"Go away."

**XXX**

**AN: This is first and hopefully last time I'm writing a brain surgery scene. That was **_**hard**_**. Please review my story if you can. They're nice pick-me-ups. **


	48. S1: Bliss: pt 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's and the plotline. Transformers belong to the bros at Hasbro. **

**XXX**

Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow hotel, nighttime

"Wow!" Warmup shouted. "We're guaranteed at least a 100,000 shanix just for him being dead? That's a fragging jackpot!" Cooldown indicated to him with a motion of his hand to quiet down. "Sorry," Warmup apologized.

"It's no problem with me. It's the neighbors I'm worrying about," Cooldown explained, downing another shot of his drink after telling him.

"So, when we're leaving?" Warmup asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Cooldown told him, grabbing the other glass after downing the first.

"That early?" Warmup wondered. "Do we even know where he is?" Cooldown stopped the shot from reaching his lips after hearing that question. How were they suppose to find the guy?

"I don't know," Cooldown answered honestly. "I'm guessing Bombline or his client will have something planned," he theorized.

"Maybe," Warmup said, slumping down in his chair. "I'm tire. I'm going to recharge," Warmup said, standing up.

"Yeah, I'm with you," Cooldown agreed after downing the drink. He got up from his seat slowly and went to his berth, stumbling just a little bit. Both of them laid down on their berths and started recharging.

XXX

**The Merchant**

Killshot walked into the bridge. Dead End and Skywarp were both sitting at the table, the former reading and the latter drinking some energon. Swindle was over at the cockpit, flying the ship towards it destination. He noticed that everyone in the room was tire, probably needing a recharge soon. He had to admit that he was feeling a bit tire too. He walked up to the cockpit and sat down in the seat next to Swindle. "So, Deadlock ready to talk?" he asked.

"Not yet," Swindle replied. "I've been trying to get someone to answer, but no one's there."

"Ah, so, any idea when someone will answer?" he asked.

"Shouldn't be much longer," he told him. Swindle looked at his employee. "So, I've got information of the location where the distress signal is at," Swindle inform him.

"Really now. What?" he asked the conmech. However, before he could answer, Skywarp asked behind them:

"What distress signal?" he asked. Swindle clenched his fingers into a fist at that. He forgot about Skywarp being there.

"Dead End, please stop reading your depressing poetry and add to the discussion by informing Skywarp about the distress signal." Dead End gave a sigh, before explaining to Skywarp quickly about to distress signal. After he was done, Skywarp asked what was important about the distress signals. "Well, for starters, it could mean that the mercenaries are there." This earned Skywarp's attention. "To go along with that, I've recently figure out that the ship is called the 'Apoptosis,' which is an Autobot space station," Swindle add.

"Apoptosis?" Killshot repeated. "That's a mouthful. Who would name a space station that?"

"A giant nerd, I'm guessing," Skywarp chimed in.

"Yeah, probably," Swindle said, looking at his console. "Hey, I think Deadlock is finally answering," Swindle said, and sure enough, Deadlock appeared on screen, looking at the two cons he could see at the cockpit.

"Yeah, it took a bit longer than expected. It was a full-scale lounge fight," Deadlock told the two.

"Lounge fight?" Killshot asked. "Don't tell me they gave you trouble," Killshot mocked.

"Don't worry, they didn't. I can take care of myself in a fight, unlike you," Deadlock fired back. "I can hold Dabola down."

"Ah, good to know," Killshot said, sounding a little slow. "Look, Deadlock. You think you can call me later? Today has been a tiring day," Killshot said.

"Why? You've barely been gone a solar cycle. You've couldn't have run into danger that quickly, right?" he asked.

"Actually, we have. Pirates," Swindle answered for Killshot. Killshot glared at him.

"Thanks, Blabbermouth," Killshot said.

"Pirates?" Deadlock questioned. "Wow, you have some seriously good luck."

"I don't call it good luck. I call it an extreme annoyance," Killshot sneered. Deadlock gave him a disappointing look. "What? I don't do large amounts of people shooting at me in close-quarters. You know that."

"It definitely wasn't like that at Dabola. Last I check, you got your hands really dirty there," Deadlock pointed out.

"Okay, valid point, but it was a one-time thing," Killshot said.

"Un-hun yeah. Alright. Look, give me a call later after you got some rest, okay," Dead lock told him.

"Yeah, sure. Later," Killshot said, turning the screen off. "I'm not calling him anytime soon," Killshot said almost immediately after getting off.

"Not your favorite person to hang out with, I'm guessing," Swindle guessed.

"Eh, he's in the middle, in between 'I'll totally hang out with you later' and 'if you call me again, I'll kill you.'" Killshot clarified. "Overall, there's worse. A lot worst."

"Like what?" Swindle asked.

"Like Turmoil. If I ever have to be in the same room with that fragger, I'm liable to kill him. The only really difficult part is how do I want to kill him," Killshot said as an example.

"Yeah, I've met him a few times. Big, brutal, and a jerk," Swindle agreed.

"Ditto," Skywarp chimed in behind them. "Had to work with once with my trinemates. He was one disrespectful fragger, but he knew what he was doing."

"As did I, but only for a short time on a single mission. Never really met him, just got orders from him," Dead End chipped in too.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to sleep. Good-night," Killshot said to the group. Before getting up, he said one last thing to Swindle. "By the way, you still got Transmission fluid stains on you, might want to wash it off." With that sage-like wisdom given, he departed from the room, leaving Swindle to look at himself. He still had the stains on him.

"Dammit."

**XXX**

Misfire sat in a corner of his room, covering his head, being in that posture for a unknown amount of time, trying to ignore the dead staring at him. He could still hear Slugslinger trying to get his attention, but Misfire wouldn't have it. He was going to stay here and ignore them until the drugs wear off, and when that was done, he was going to take those drugs and dump them somewhere where so that he couldn't use them. Syk just wasn't for him.

Still, despite the fact that they were hallucinations, Misfire was kind of glad to see them again. They were trinemates and they had bonds. Not as serious as split-spark twins or gestalt groups, but it was there, always lingering. When a trinemate die, you don't notice the absent of a bond much for a while, but it does build up over time. The absence of the bond is just there, pestering you, festering within you, making you feel more pain as time goes on. The grief consumes you and you do whatever you can to lessen the pain. Having another trinemate that was still alive lessen that pain considerably, but by himself? Unbearable. Dugs made it bearable.

Seeing and talking to his trinemates made that pain go away.

"You finally realize it, don't you," Slugslinger said in front of him. Misfire noticed that he was crouched down in front of him now, in a very caring motion, like a brother. "Syk can let you talk to us, help you forget the pain, and let you live," Slugslinger explained to him.

"But it doesn't last," Misfire said somberly. "The effect can only last for so long before it goes away."

"Then take more. Get a batch of syk and analyze it to make more," Slugslinger told him, his voice almost having a fatherly tone, with Triggerhappy shaking whatever was left of his head 'yes' happily in response. Misfire looked at him with an almost disbelieving look.

"Weren't you always going on about how drugs are bad for me?" Misfire asked.

"I'm making an exception, just this once," Slugslinger explained. "I had good reason for making you not taking drugs. It always limited combat effectiveness, same with Triggerhappy with his circuit boosters. Thanks by the way for introducing him to circuit boosters, by the way," he added that last part sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, no offense, but I kinda don't want to look at you're ugly mugs every time I take syk. Seriously, it's very creepy," Misfire said, in a disgusted tone, looking at the holes that allow him to look into Slugslinger's inter-circuitry and Triggerhappy's utter lack of the top half of his head. Walking corpses, in general, were creepy to look at. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to see much more.

"Get over it," Slugslinger said bluntly. Misfire looked at him and couldn't help but notice that he was fading away very slowly. "We don't have much time," he noticed. "Look, this may freak you out, but this will help you. Think of it as therapy with Hook, only a lot more affective. Syk can help you get through this," Slugslinger comforted him, as he was fading away.

"How can you be so damn sure?" Misfire asked.

"Just trust me. I'm the leader of the trine and I know what's best, even though you ignore me every single time." Misfire flinched a little bit at that tone. "But this will help you. Use it, take away your pain," Slugslinger shouted to convinced him, getting more and more transparent. Triggerhappy gave a barely visible thumb up at his comment. Misfire sighed and looked away, thinking about it for a little while, before answering back.

"I guess you make a point," Misfire said. He looked up, only to see he was talking to air. Misfire looked around, slightly disappointed. He got up, shaking a little bit as he made his way up. He felt tired. Very, very tired. He walked to his berth where he laid his syk at. He grabbed it and looked at it thoughtfully. For once, drugs were actually going to give him something besides momentary bliss. They were giving him a chance to live through the death of his trinemates without pain.

With this thought in mind, he opened up a compartment in the wall above his berth. He found it pretty early in his entrance to the room. Inside was a Subsonic repeater, a type of submachine gun, that was already in there, but there was still plenty of room to place the box in there. Misfire brushed the gun aside and put the box in there, before he closed it and lied down on his berth. Misfire felt very little in him missing. Everything was surprisingly well.

That was bliss.

**XXX**

At megacycle later, everyone was in there rooms, recharging. The ship was on autopilot, heading to Apoptosis. Everyone was recharging, trying to get some recharge. The ship was deathly quiet. Nothing moved… except for a single form moving through the halls.

Scavenger.

**XXX**

**AN: Hey everybody. Just to let you know, Exams are right around the corner and my update schedule is going to be erratic for the next couple of weeks. Just letting you know. **


	49. S1: Stains Pt 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the OC's. Transformers is owned by Hasbro. **

**XXX**

**Many Vorns Ago**

Swindle looked at the beautiful piece of work in front of him; a nice, simple, rectangular, black box that on the inside held the components of an EMP bomb. On the side was a switch that would manually activate it (Why did he put that in there?) and the bottom had a magnet that would let it stick to his back, walls, or the ceiling or anything metallic. The shell of the device was made from ununtrium, meaning it wasn't going to be pierce by an accidently bullet or shrapnel and break. At this moment, even though Swindle was really tire, he was proud of his work.

"Oh, that looks pretty cool." Swindle jumped up in the air for a second before turning around to face the owner of that voice: Vortex. Of course it was him.

"Primus, Vortex. Don't do that again," Swindle told the helicopter.

"Why? Afraid I might give you a swift kick in the aft?" Vortex asked him.

"That and I don't like surprises. Seriously, I loathe them," Swindle explained. "Of course, knowing you, this is going straight over your head."

"Oh, come on Swindle. Words can't fly," Vortex told him, completely missing the point.

"That's not what I meant you- ah forget it. What time is it?" Swindle asked him.

"It's tomorrow," Vortex told him.

"Tomorrow? Already? Ah scrap!" Swindle shouted, moving towards the door. "Watch the bomb and make sure no one touches it while I go tell Onslaught about it being done," Swindle ordered him as he walked out the door. Vortex responded by giving an unseen thumbs-up as the door remarked:

"You might want to clean yourself. You look like scrap." The door closed, leaving Swindle to look at himself. He had plenty of stains on him that mixed with older ones that made him look very dirty. Swindle gave a sigh about this before heading to Onslaught. He could clean after he was done with informing Onslaught about the bomb's completion. So Swindle head down the dark color halls with bright lights, passing several figures along the way, including Rumble and Frenzy, who were in the process of beating each up with the blue one winning (which was he: Rumble or Frenzy?). Within a few minutes, he had reach Onslaught's quarters and knocked on the door.

"It's open!" Onslaught shouted from inside the room. Swindle clicked a button and the door opened, letting him in. Inside, Onslaught was looking over map for Solaris. "Hello Swindle! So, I assume you've got the EMP ready?" Onslaught asked him, getting straight down to business.

"Yeah. Vortex is guarding it right now, making sure no one touches it. It should be ready to go," Swindle answered to his commanding officer.

"But?" Onslaught questioned, knowing there had to be something he was purposefully left out.

"But I haven't tested it, yet. Who knows what might happen when I press the trigger. It could work just fine or completely fail," Swindle replied. "I don't know unless I've tested it."

"Well then, you better hope it works, because we're moving out in a few megacycles," Onslaught told his soldier.

"We are? I haven't even gone my recharge in. I've been working all night on that damn thing," Swindle complained like a bitter child.

"Get over it," Onslaught told him harshly. "It's going to take at least five megacycles to get everything in order for us to attack for tonight. I've already told everybody else the full plan for this except you, so come over here and listen carefully," Onslaught commanded him. Swindle obeyed like a loyal subordinate.

"Now, as you already known, Motormaster and his fellow Stunticons are going to launch an assault on the front of the base along with about a thousand Vehicons. While they're distracting them, we're going to sneak in from the back along with a few Vehicons as backup. From there, we split up. Blast Off will find the highest building he can and offer sniper support for us and the Stunticons from there, while Brawl and I will head to a fuel depot to blow it up and wreak havoc to make a distraction for you and Vortex. Speaking of you two, you'll head to the building where the generator is, sneak in, and take it out. Once that's done and the guns are down, Starscream will lead an aerial assault with his trine and a fleet of Vehicons. After that, it's basically clean up," Onslaught explained his lengthy plan. "Did you get all that?"

"Yeah, I got it," Swindle confirmed. "Still doesn't explain why Megatron wants this place so badly, besides the fact that he gets to crush the Autobots," Swindle wondered.

"That's simple. There are some underground labs there and the Autobots have probably been working on some secret devices to help turn the war over to their favor. We're going to make sure that that doesn't happen and claim it for ourselves," Onslaught enlightened Swindle, which grabbed his attention. "As you commanding officer, I advise that you don't steal anything without letting Megatron look at, unless you know it won't help out with the war effort," he warned him.

"Advised, not ordered," Swindle clarified. "He won't notice a few weapons missing."

"Do so at your own risk. Now, go wash up. Seriously, you got a lot of stains on you," Onslaught ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. You're not the first to have said that today," Swindle said, heading out the door.

"Swindle, one more thing," Onslaught said. Swindle turn around to listen to him. "After you're done cleaning up, go check the weapons, especially the EMP," Onslaught ordered. Swindle nodded.

"You got it. Everything will be working fine for tonight" Swindle soothe him, walking out the door and towards the washing stations. He really needed to get clean.

XXX

Swindle online, getting out of his recharge. There were two things he notice upon exiting recharge. The first thing he notice was that he really needed to clean himself. The transmission fluid stains were still there. Second, and more importantly, Scavenger was about to cave his head in with his E-tool.

Scrap.


	50. S1: Stains Pt 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the OCs. Transformers is owned by Hasbro. **

**AN: 50****th**** chapter everyone. Can't believe we've made it this far without me giving up. **

Scavenger onlined to the med-bay. The room was a lot dimmer than before, making it really hard to see. The lights cast eerie shadows around the room, making darkness where light didn't touch. Medical equipment laid nearby, not clean yet, still stained with energon. Hook lay behind his desk, recharging, face on the desk. Obviously, he fell asleep watching over Scavenger or something like that.

Scavenger slowly rise himself up to a sitting position, making sure everything was alright. He got into a position with little trouble, his inner mechanisms working just fine. He stretched his arms a bit, making sure they were working fine. With that done, he slides his legs off the table, leaving them hanging in the air. Looks like they were working fine, but he had to make sure they could take the strain of him walking. He slowly edged himself off the table, his feet slowly touching the ground. He felt his feet touching the cold, metal floor and started standing up. He felt completely fine, except a few rusted joints and gears being a little slow, but moving those legs will fix that real quick.

Slowly, he started walking around the table, keeping a hand on the table to balance himself to make sure he stays standing. Those were the things Hook told him to do in case something like this happen and he trusted Hook. He trusted him with his life, which is something he couldn't say about anyone else, despite what the voice said. He was nothing but a liar, something who wanted to bring him down. Someone who would do anything to trick him into thinking he was his friend.

Scavenger shook his head from those thoughts. He didn't want to think about that fragger. He just wanted to make sure he was ready to move about. Although, he kind of wanted to know how did he ended up in the med-bay? All he remembered was getting shock by that kremzeek in the cargo hold. Could that have caused enough injuries to warrant him to go to the med-bay?

"The answer to that question is yes," a familiar voice said. Scavenger snapped his head back to the entrance to the med-bay. He saw no one there. He looked around to where Hook was, about to yell out for him, when he realized he wasn't there. Where the heck was he? "In the hall, you moron," the voice said, condescendingly. Scavenger flinched slightly at that tone. He looked around the room again, looking for anybody to help him. "You're all alone. Come on out and play," the voice commanded him in a deep voice. Scavenger hesitated a bit before walking towards the door. He needed to figure out what was going on. He reached the door, his spark fluxing faster than before. Slowly, he pressed the button and opened the door.

No one was there. Scavenger exhaled a sigh of release. "I'm surprise you were brave enough to walk," the voice said, just a tiny bit of surprise in his voice. "If you want to meet me - and trust me, you do – come to the top floor of the ship. You know, the captain's quarters. You get to actually see me," the voice instructed. Scavenger processed that information, deciding what to do. Should he go up there or stay here where it was safe? "Come on, don't you want to kill me? That reminds me, bring a weapon. You're going to need it," the voice advised. Now that was tempting. To be rid of this bastard would be a weight off his shoulder.

With a goal set, he made a quick trip to his room. He grabbed his weapon of choice, an E-tool, simple handheld shovel, and headed to where he get to the first floor. Question was where was what he needed to get there? He couldn't remember. "You should consider remembering the ship more often. The elevators are over at the back of the ship, you neurotic," the voice told him. Scavenger mentally told himself to remember this and headed off towards the back of the ship.

"You know, I'm surprise you're in a hurry to meet you're death," the voice monologue. "You, such a strut-less, neurotic individual. You are always so ready to please, even though you'll never get their respect. You'll always be nothing but a sycophant, following orders; nothing but a replacement. The worst is, however, after all the time I try to help you, you turn your back on me! The only person who tries to help you and has a modicum of respect for you and you turn me away! Why, you idiotic being? Why!" the voice shouted, going from a monologue to a rant. Scavenger ignored this, letting him rant more. He reached the elevator and entered it, pressing the first floor button. He was going to kill this guy today.

The elevator headed up silently. Right now, all Scavenger could hear was the voice, ranting more and more at him. Instead of listening to him, he looked at his weapon. It was nothing more than his trusty E-tool. Nothing more than a hand-held shovel, but it was a deadly weapon. The head of the shovel was very sharp. Someone could easily swing it down with enough force to slice through the head of an individual. Scavenger himself has had to do it a few times in the heat of battle, growing proficient with it over the years. It was a reliable weapon, easy-to-use weapon, even though it did get a bit stuck in the body of his assailant from time to time. He looked at his weapon that he didn't notice that the voice had shut up.

Ding!

The door opened with slight rumble. Scavenger looked out the entrance-way, looking for that damn voice. It was no where around. The only thing around was a door that led to Swindle's room. The room was painted a simple beige color with nothing of note in it. Slowly, Scavenger approached the door, his E-tool at the ready. He hover his left hand over the button while having his right hand in a position ready to strike if anything lied behind the door. He slowly led his hand down, ready to strike, before…

Whoosh!

He pressed the button and the door opened, showing no one waiting for him. "Come in!" the voice called out. Okay, not quite true. Scavenger entered the room. The first thing he notice that the right side of the area carried a desk with all sorts of different things on it; a study area of some sort. Straight ahead was a small flight of steps and a wall was to his right. The room was painted a sky-blue color, with a purple, vertical stripe at random intervals. Scavenger made a note that Swindle's place was already looking better than his before walking into the next room.

The room was a master bedroom of some sort. The front held two chairs with a table between it, a place for idle chat. The left was mostly bear, except for a large screen in the middle of it. The right side held a few shelves and another door. At the back was a rather large recharge slab with a gun hanging off the wall on the left side of the wall, probably a scattershot. On the recharge slab was a form that definitely _didn'_t looked like Swindle.

"Hello and welcome," the voice greeted him. It was a slim, black mech with yellow optics, lacking any distinct characteristics besides that. He looked like a very generic bot. "So, you're ready to die?" the voiced questioned.

"No. I am ready to kill you, though," Scavenger said, walking towards the voice, leering over him. He laid there, with his hands under his head, in a very relaxed pose. Scavenger lifted his E-tool above his head and prepared to slash down towards his nemesis. "Go to the pit!" he yelled, bringing the shovel down.


	51. S1: Stains Pt 3

**AN: Schools ends tommorow and I'll be on summer break. Should have more time to work on my story. **

Swindle, upon seeing his insane crew member swing the e-tool down on him, reacted predictably; he drawed a black from his arm to back it and grabbed the handle of the tool with his other hand before it hit him in the face. "What (Is) the (that) frag (all)!" Swindle shouted, the weapon dangerously close to his face.

"Shut up and die!" Scavenger yelled at him, putting more pressure on the weapon. Swindle, in response, push back harder as well.

"What (You) I'd (are) do (weak)!" Swindle shouted at him.

"No, I'm not!" the medic responded, pushing down on the weapon even harder. Swindle responded the same, not wanting to get his face cleave off. The two engage in a stalemate, one trying to kill the other, while the other one was trying to figure what the heck was wrong with him. Swindle had to disarm him and offline him or talk him down, not kill him. Primus knows what Hook or any of the other Constructicons would do if he found he killed him.

First things first: got to get off the recharge slab. Scavenger was in a advantage here, as the bed didn't give Swindle a lot of room and gravity was slightly on Scavenger's side. He had to make room and get off. While Scavenger was busy trying to cleave his face in two, Swindle brought his legs up and push against Scavenger chest. Scavenger was caught off guard by this and was pushed away from him, temporarily losing his balance. Swindle took advantage of this by rolling off the side of the slab, putting it between him and Scavenger.

"Al- (that) -right (was) Scav (bad), lets (try) calm (a-) down (-gain) now (fool)," Swindle said, ever the diplomat. Peaceful resolutions were kind of his thing rather than shooting ever fragger there was. You didn't get far shooting everything in sight. It was also better than bringing him to hook injured after that fiasco with the kremzeek.

"Screw you, bastard!" Of course, he had no problem mixing the two up. Bringing pain while talking peace was a nice contradiction. Insults are just plain rude. Before Swindle could do anything else, however, Scavenger was lunging over the bed and getting ready to take his head off. Swindle reacted quickly and duck under his shovel, letting him collide with the shelf behind him. Swindle took the advantage and made a grab for Scavenger's weapon. However, before he could reach it, he felt something sweep his feet from under him. The damn tail!

Scavenger was above him again now and was bringing the shovel down completely vertically, aiming for his head. Swindle reacted by rolling away and letting Scavenger's shovel dig into the floor. Scavenger pulled, trying to bring the shovel back up, but it was a bit stuck. Swindle capitalize on this by tackling him onto the berth, separating Scavenger from his weapon. "E- (You're) –nough (weak)! Calm (Come) down (on)! We (Show) can (me) talk (that) through (you're) this (strong-) if (-er) you (than) stop (weak)."

Scavenger was confused for a slight moment. It sounded like a second person was coming out of his voice, someone familiar. He got rid of this quickly, concentrating on getting his assailant off of him. He quickly head-butted the black figure, staggering him for a little bit and kicked him off sending him to the floor. Scavenger rolled off the berth away from his attacker and looked for another weapon and found one. Swindle was still a little feeling dazed from the headbutt as he got off the floor and gazed at Scavenger.

He was aiming his Scattershot at him. Frag it!

BANG!

Swindle ducked before he fired, letting the projectiles harmlessly miss him, but harmfully destroyed some of the valuables on his shelf. Those cost money! Swindle was trying to resist how much that cost and instead figure out a way to disarm Scavenger again. A scattershot was for more damaging than a shovel. Swindle looked quickly for something to disarm him and found something. He quickly ran for it, barely dodging another shot from Scavenger. He ran for the front of the room and grabbed the nearest chair. He took that and quickly swung it at Scavenger, who was getting ready to take another shot. The chair threw him off balance, letting him shoot the gun harmlessly at the ceiling (but still cost money). Swindle took this distraction to run up and wrench the gun from his hand and threw it to the side.

Now disarm, Scavenger started getting desperate. The damn bastard was always finding a way around his attacks and just generally making it hard to actually hurt him significantly. He was also wondering why the heck he was throwing away the weapon. He wanted to kill him right? Scavenger put those thoughts at the back of his processor and started swinging punches at Swindle. Swindle had to smirk at that. Scavenger was a Constructicon, a construction worker, and he was a Combaticon, a spec ops soldier. This was easy.

Swindle dodge the first two swipes at him before catching the third one and flip him over to the ground. With Scavenger dazed by that, Swindle holstered himself on top of him and kept his limbs in place and started shouting at him. "Lis- (You're) -ten (weak) up (Scav), you (you) I- (can't) di- (beat) –ot (me). Stop (Sub-) at- (mit) –tack- (to) -ing (your) me (end)!" Scavenger listened to that. It didn't sound like the voice, but it sounded like Swindle. He could still hear it, but it wasn't anywhere as prominent as before. To go along with that, the blackness of the figure started going away like a stain being remove and the chassis started expanding to show a much bulkier, familiar figure.

"Swindle! Oh, scrap, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you!" Scavenger blurted out, causing Swindle to give a very confuse expression.

"What! Are you blind? Are your optics messing with you or something?" Swindle asked loosening his grip a little, but still holding on. This could be a ruse.

It's a lot more complicated than that," Scavenger said, remorse in his voice. "It's never been this bad before."

"What's never been this bad before?" Swindle interrogated the medic. Scavenger didn't answer the question, instead asking a different question.

"Can you get off me? I don't like being constrain," he asked of the conmech. Swindle thought about this before relenting, getting off him. Scavenger got up slowly before walking off to the chair Swindle didn't throw at him and sit down in it. Swindle looked at him for a little bit before grabbing the chair that he did throw at him and taking it where he was sited at. He wanted answers and Scavenger was giving them. He sat the chair down and sat down in it, looking at Scavenger. "Alright, look, I wasn't always the sixth member of the Constructicons. See I sort of started out homeless."

"Homeless? Don't you have creators?" Swindle asked.

"I do, but they died in this massive explosion near when I was first created. People took me to new creators. I hated them. I left. Simple. Anyway, I started out homeless. Instead of getting training for my alt. mode, I instead wonder around polyhex, where I was created. I ended up getting a job at the smelting pools there. It was easy, transporting metal to be melted down. Simple, easy, and didn't pay well. It was one of those jobs where they were open for anyone, regardless of their alt. mode. So I work there for a hundred or so vorns. I worked alone. I didn't have friends. No one liked me, especially this one aft. Every sentence to me from that guy was a insult from me. I hated him!

But then, I heard this voice. This little voice. He told not to take anything that they do to me. That I should fight back. I ignore him for a little while, until about 5 vorns later. I was working overtime at the place. Thing was, so was that bastard I talk about earlier. No one else, just me and him and our boss who checks in on us every couple megacycles or so. He kept mocking me and mocking me and that voice just kept whispering words of encouragement to kill that bastard. Eventually, I just… snap. I took this piece of rebar on walked behind while he wasn't looking and he kept saying things. Mean, nasty things about me until I hit him in the head. And again. And again. Over and over. Then I jab it right into his spark, just to make sure he was dead and to see if he had one. Turns out he did. Who knew?

Anyway, I had a problem. I had a body to get rid of. I didn't want to do it. What if he had people that cared about him that wanted to handle his body? But that voice, that ever little voice said I should just throw it into the smelter, make sure he was never found, so I did. I threw him in there and watch him melt. The only thing left there was the stains. The spelt energon from killing him had stain the floors, but it didn't matter. People were hurt all the time on the job and would blend in with all the other stains. All I had to do was lie. Just lie. So I did.

But it wasn't enough. They were suspected I did something when he turned up missing, so I ran away from Polyhex to Iacon, where I met with the Constructicons. The voice told me to join them, said they needed me. Turned out he was right. They needed another someone with my alt. mode sense the previous one died recently in an accident. I join and they turned out to be good friends to they tolerate me, at least. Still better than before. Painted myself in their colors and changed my name. But that voice… it stayed with me. It stayed long after I didn't need it and continue to mess with me, now actively messing with me. It stains part of my mind, making me forgot that I'm in reality sometimes. Makes me forget I'm talking to nothing but corpses. I hate it and I wish it go away," Scavenger ended his long story. Swindle sort of looked at him strangely.

"Have you talk to anybody else about this?" he asked.

"No, but they've suspected things. They always suspected things. Don't blame them either. I'm a nervous wreck," Scavenger pointed out. Swindle laid back in his chair, thinking this through. Scavenger was obviously a neurotic mess and needed help. Hook had to be told about this.

"Alright, look," Swindle said. "You need help, so I recommend that you tell Hook about this first thing in the morning or whatever is morning on this ship…. Okay, just tell him as soon as possible. Got that?" Scavenger nodded absent-mindedly. "Alright good. Now, no offense, but please get the frag out of my room. Oh, and take that shovel with you too," Swindle told the Constructicon. Scavenger got up and took the shovel out the floor, after a little bit of loosening it up. It got stuck real good. Swindle hated to imagine what that would do to his face. Scavenger walked up the steps and to the door, but before he leave, he said something.

"Thanks Swindle," Scavenger told him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Swindle said, heading to his berth.

"Oh, also sorry the destruct-"

"Don't say anything about that," Swindle interrupted him. "I'm already holding back the need to wring your neck for trying to kill me. I don't need to be reminded of what you did to my room. Now, leave before I consider using my scattershot on you," Swindle told him. Scavenger took his words to spark and wisely left. Swindle went into recharging mode, hoping that nothing bad happens tomorrow.

He really needed a break.


	52. S1: The Deadstation PT 1

Killshot walked into the bridge, energize from his recharge. On the table, he could see Hook and Misfire sitting at the far end of the table, arguing with each other about something he really didn't care about and both drinking from a cube of energon in-between their arguments, while Skywarp sitting in the chair on the left side of where Killshot usually sat with two cubes for him to drink from. Killshot went and grab a cube of energon before he took a seat in where in usually sat, trying to stay as far away from the other two at the end of the table. "So," he said to Skywarp, in a tone that explicitly sounded like he didn't care, "exactly what are they talking about?"

"I don't know," Skywarp answered in a similarly uninterested tone. "I lost the urge to give a damn about what they were arguing about a while ago." He took a drink from one of his cubes before continuing on. "From what I heard before I lost interest, it involved an appointment or something like that," Skywarp completed his statement before emptying the rest of the cube into his mouth.

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Hook is his psychiatrist," Killshot said. Skywarp looked interested at that comment.

"His psychiatrist?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know what for. He has ADHD, but that doesn't seem like something a psychiatrist would be looking into," Killshot replied.

"Where do you think he got those scars from?" Skywarp asked him. Killshot looked at him with a slight air of interest.

"I don't know. My guess is that he got injured multiple times throughout his time his time serving in the army," Killshot commented.

"Yeah… you would be wrong on that," Skywarp commented. Killshot shot him a look that showed that he had his attention. "Starscream told me about him before. According to him and other people, he massively frag-upped a mission and got some personal one-on-one time with Megatron. Pretty much all of those scars are the result of that," Skywarp finished.

"Ouch," Killshot said, actually sounding sympathetic. Megatron was brutal. Still. This raise a question. "Exactly why did Megatron torture him instead of the DJD?" Skywarp shrugged at that.

"I don't know, but I heard that Blackout was a really close ally to him. Almost like Megatron and Soundwave. Misfire accidently killing him probably made it personal," Skywarp answer.

"Okay, got that, but why let him live?" Killshot asked.

"Now that I really don't know," Skywarp replied, interest lacing his voice at the thought. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Maybe he was in a movie he really liked," Killshot hypothesize.

"I doubt it. Megatron was a gladiator. I doubt he had time to watch movies," Skywarp immediately shot him down.

"Alright, good point," Killshot agreed. "So, why is he still alive instead of being use for scrap metal?" he wondered aloud.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Skywarp replied. "Anyway, how long before we reach the ship?" he asked him. Unfortunately, that question gain the attention of the other end of the table.

"Wait, hold on," Hook interrupted. "What ship are we going to?"

"Yeah, I agree with Mr. Ego over here. What ship are we going to?" Misfire asked. Hook shot him a dirty look at that comment. Before either of the two could answer that, the door opened, letting in Swindle and Scavenger.

"And how it everybody doing today?" Swindle asked the room with a smile on his face, walking around to the end of the table while Scavenger grabbed a seat next to Hook.

"Exactly what ship are we going to?" Hook asked Swindle, completely ignoring the question. Swindle shared a look with Skywarp and Killshot, silently yelling at them while keeping his smile up. Skywarp looked away, pretending he wasn't there while Killshot shrugged his shoulders, clearly not giving a damn.

"Well, it's not a ship, but a space station," Swindle said, looking at Hook instead. We receive two distress signals from it: an Autobot and a Decepticon one. The space station is an Autobot one called The Apoptosis."

"Cell death," Misfire interrupted.

"Huh?" the room asked in unison

"The process of programmed cell death, that what apoptosis is," Misfire answered. Everybody looked at him strangely before someone yelled out…

"Nerd!" Skywarp shouted out.

"Screw you!" Misfire fired back, middle finger in the air.

"Shut up!" Swindle interrupted them. "You two can fight each other later when I'm not talking. Now as I was saying, the station is an Autobot one which means we should expect some trouble there. Everyone is participating in this mission, no exceptions. We should be arriving in a few cycles, so be prepared. I'll get on the intercom and call the other two up here," Swindle said, heading to the cockpit. He arrived and pressed the button to activate the intercom and was immediately met with feedback. "OW!' Swindle yelled aloud, along with everyone else in different ways. Swindle quickly lower the volume down before it could cause him more pain. "Fragging pits, I really need to fix the damn intercom. Attention Shockwave and Dead End, please get your ready. We're about to dock at the station," he said into the intercom and got off, walking back to the table. "Alright, final questions?" Swindle asked the room. He was met with silence. "Great. Get your gear ready and we'll check the station out," Swindle told the room and went back to the cockpit. Everybody got up and head out of the room to get there gear ready. Along the way, Skywarp shared a short conversation with Killshot.

"Honest question, do you think we're going to find the mercs that killed Thundercracker at the space station?" he asked Killshot.

"Nope. If I was them, I would be hiding out, not causing more trouble. Just be on the lookout for Autobots," Killshot told him.

* * *

Of course, Killshot was sort of right. They were not on the space station, but they were about to leave there safe haven and go after them. They were just going through procedure for lift off. Cooldown was on the radio, talking with ai as he was going through the motions for check off, sounding like he done it before several times. In the barracks, Warmup and Bombline was going through some weapons. "Path blaster?" Bombline asked.

"Check."

"Riot cannon?"

"Double check"

"Thermal rocket cannon?"

"Triple check!"

This went on for awhile until they reach the last weapon. "A-4 Pulsar cannon?"

"Oh Primus, check," Warmup said, sounding tired. "Everything is on the blasted ship. There's no need to go over every single one."

"You never know. Someone might've come on here and stolen something," Bombline said.

"You're paranoid."

"Attention, Bombline and Warmup. We're flying out of here in three, two, one." The thrusters came on and the ship started floating off the ground and causing the ship to shake a tiny bit.

"I hate this part!" Warmup complained out loud.

"Shut up!" Bombline yelled back.

The ship continue floating upwards and turning upwards as well. Cooldown guided everything expertly and got everything into place. "And here we go," he murmured to himself and pressed the ignition button. Suddenly the ship starting flying through the air at a rapid pace, gaining more speed as it went until it broke orbit and started flying through space. "Alright, we're good, "he spoke into the intercom. Bombline and Warmup came out of the barrack.

"Alright, good job," Bombline applauded Cooldown.

"Yeah, whatever. Tell me, how are we going to track Swindle down?" he asked him. Bombline was quiet at that, thinking it through, before replying.

"I don't know. I'll think of something." Warmup and Cooldown immediately facepalm.

**AN: Chapter is short, I know. Also, I made a line!**


	53. S1: The Deadstation PT 2

The group, sans Swindle, was waiting at the door out of the ship, waiting to be let out of the ship. Killshot and Skywarp were leaning beside the walls right next to the door with Killshot holding a photon burst rifle. Dead and Misfire were behind Killshot while the two Constructicons were behind Skywarp and were holding subsonic repeaters. Shockwave was standing a bit away from the group, completely opposite of the door. Both Shockwave and Dead End were drinking energon cubes from not getting some earlier, although no one knew how Shockwave did it. Every time no one was optics were on him and they look back, a small amount was gone. Of course, none of them notice due to being occupied in their conversations. "Can tell me what happen on Espera?" Misfire asked Dead End. Dead End gave a shrug before answering.

"A little bit. We were, in order, attack by pirates, strike back at the pirates, and stole an Iacon relic from them," Dead End finished. Misfire looked at him a bit surprised.

"That's a little bit to you?" he asked in a disbelieved tone.

"I guess. We weren't injured, except for Killshot's ego a little bit. Overall, it was pretty successful," Dead End said monotonously.

"Yeah, I guess. Huh, quick question, what exactly is a Iacon Relic?" he asked Dead End.

"Just some items that Alpha Trion blasted into space to prevent us from claiming them," Dead End answered nonchalantly.

"Ah, so what was it?"

"A map of the universe, it looks like, and not just what we know," Dead End clarified the statement.

"Ah, and how big was it?" Misfire questioned, interested.

"You know the map that we have of the known universe?" A nod. "Well the map that was shown to us was about twenty times bigger than that."

"Damn," Misfire said, mulling that over, "the universe is big."

Over next to them, Killshot and Skywarp were chatting. "So," Skywarp began, "what do you think we'll run into inside the station?"

"My guest," Killshot said, with a little pause, thinking it over, "would be that we won't run into much."

"And why is that?"

"Well, since we're close to the station and we've not been shot at been its defenses yet, I said that the power is out over there. That means that they probably abandon the ship or our fellow Decepticons have taken over that base. Personally, I hope it's the latter. At least than we might have something to shoot at, even if they don't appreciate it," Killshot explain with a little smile. "Of course, I could be wrong, and we may have plenty of Autobots to shoot, which would be just as good with me."

"You really like shooting things, don't you?" Skywarp mutter a bit distastefully.

"Oh, come on. Don't pretend you don't like it either," Killshot said.

"I've been thinking things over, you know, after what happen to Thundercracker. I mean, I'm still going to kill that bastard who killed him, but I'm taking of taking a break after that. A long one," Skywarp explained in a more morose tone than usual. "I still need to get you back for the comment at the pirate base," he added indifferently.

"Uh what?" Killshot asked.

"Don't worry, you won't see it coming and you can't stop it, so stop worrying," Skywarp told him with an angry glare. Killshot took a couple of steps back from Skywarp at the glare, really not wanting face his wrath.

Next to them, Scavenger was explaining to Hook what happen last night in low tones, except for the parts about before he met him and the rest of the Constructicons. He figured that it wasn't important for Hook to know that. At the end of it, Hook gave a low curse, trying to think this through. "Are you sure this is the first time you've seen the voice?" he whispered. Scavenger nodded at that. "Alright, so a very recent symptom. Anything else?"

"No."

"Alright, I'll look more into this once we're done with the station," Hook inform. "Just keep your head together and everything will be just fine. Alright?" Scavenger nodded.

"Just got to keep my head together," Scavenger repeated to himself mostly. "I can do that."

"Everybody ready?" Swindle addressed the group, walking towards them.

"We're here?" Misfire asked in a slight disbelieving tone.

"Yeah," Swindle answered quickly.

"Damn, you really landed the ship softly," he remarked.

"That's because I didn't land us in it. We're right next to a entrance port for ships like mine to send in people. Now, everybody got a weapon, right?" Swindle asked everyone. Everyone showed the weapons they were holding while Skywarp and Misfire turned their hands into blasters. However, Swindle took notice of Killshot's weapon. "Where did you get that?" he asked.

"From the cargo hold," Killshot answered.

"So that's mine rifle what you're saying," Swindle clarified.

"Uh, maybe," Killshot replied a little nervously. Swindle gave a frustrated sigh at that.

"Alright, look. If you break it, you buy it. Understand?" Swindle asked his employee.

"You got it," Killshot confirmed.

"Now, if there's nothing else," Swindle said, pressing the button to open the door, "let's get going." The door open, showing a little tunnel with a door at the end of it. Swindle walked to the door, everybody slowly following him with Shockwave backing up the rear. The group reached the door and Swindle opened the door. The door slide apart with a loud hiss, letting the group into a beige hallway. The group walked into the hallway and looked around the area. The hallway was abandoned of any life and there were energon stains all across the floor, indicating that violence had occurred here at one point. Aside from that, the area was clear of hostiles and there were no clear threats.

"Alright," Skywarp asked aloud to Swindle, "what do we do now?"

"Simple, we're splitting up. Killshot," he said, pulling out a device, "catch." He tossed the device at Killshot who catch it and looked at it. "A map of the station with two dots on it," he muttered aloud.

"Those would be the distress signals. You go find the Decepticons distress signal while I found the Autobot one. Take Hook, Scavenger, and Misfire with you," Swindle ordered him.

"Alright, let's go everybody. Let's see if anybody alive on this station," he told them, walking left. Everybody followed him.

"Alright, the rest of us, let us go find that Autobot distress signal and see what happen here," he ordered the group. Everyone follow him going to the right side of the hallway.


	54. S1: The Deadstation PT 3

"So, why did Swindle put us together?" Hook asked the group as they were walking through the hallway. "I mean, if you split us up, why not put a medic in each group?"

"I really don't know and I really don't care," Killshot answered, looking at his map to make sure they were going the right way. Some of the lights were either blinking at random intervals or completely off, which, including the energon smeared across the wall, was giving the affect of a horror movie. "Just shut up about it. We're almost there. Just a right up ahead follow by a left and then we enter a room through the third door on the right side. Good thing we got this. The other one's a lot longer, about halfway through the station," he told the group.

"Am I the only one that finds this place really creepy," Misfire asked the group. Take a right…

"No, you're not the only one," Scavenger whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"Yeah. This is like that one movie I was in. Oh, what was it called?" Misfire murmured, trying to figure it out. "Oh, yeah! It was this horror flick called 'Imminent Death.' Boy, was that a fun," Misfire said, caught in his memories.

"Were you the lead who faced off against the thing that was killing everything?" Killshot asked.

"Nah, I was just a guy that got tossed into a grinder halfway through it," Misfire told him flatly.

"Ouch."

"Tell me about it. You should've seen the special effects. I was ripped completely apart!" Misfire exclaim.

"I don't think you're supposed to be happy about being killed," Scavenger whispered, a little confuse.

"Hey, you take what you could get," Misfire explained. Take a left…

"Alright, we're near the beacon. Everybody, relax and play nice. I really don't want to get in another firefight today," Killshot told the group as the near the door.

"It could be an ambush," Hook said. "The Autobots could've use it to lure us here." Killshot shared a brief glance at him and check his weapon to make sure it was ready to fire. He could be right. He could be wrong. You never know.

"Alright, we're here. I'll open the door. The rest of you, follow me," Killshot instructed the group as he reached for a button by the door. The door creak opened at a slow place. Killshot looked through the expanding crack that was being made as it open. No light was coming from the room, which made him a bit uncomfortable and lessened his hope of finding anyone. This station must've been abandon a long time ago. As he wondered about the emptiness of the ship, the door came to a sudden halt halfway open. "Dammit," Killshot muttered and started hitting the button again to no effect. "Open, you fraggin' door."

"You're okay, pinhead?" Misfire asked the frustrated sniper.

"No, the damn door is stuck. Autobot maintenance sucks. Let me pull this door open," he told them as he lean his gun on the wall and grabbed a hold of the door. "Fragging Autobots," he said under his breath as he began pulling the door. "Can't even take care of their doors," he said, under the screech of the door being pulled open. The sound of it was ranging from midly unpleasant to a serious offense to the audio senses. It wasn't long before the door was completely pulled open and he grabbed his gun. "Alright, let's see who's here," he said as he entered the room and turned on the lights.

The room light up, but, like the hallways, they were flickering on and off at random. "That's really starting to annoy me," Killshot murmured as he looked around the room. It looked to be a lab of some source. The room was painted pure white colored, but was stain by energon on just about everything from the floor to the flipped over tables. Broken glass was also on the floor indicating some glassware broke open. Overall, it wasn't a good thing.

"Wow, place looks like scrap," Misfire said behind him. Hook followed Misfire into the room. Scavenger volunteered to stay in the hallway.

"Looks like a struggle happen here. A very violent one and involve more than one person, considering the amount of energon," Hook said, a little disturbed at the shape of the room.

"Yeah, no kidding," Killshot said, walking towards the back of the room. The signal should be right there…. "Found it," Killshot said, grabbing a red sphere from the floor. He looked at it, a little confuse. "Strange. You would think something Decepticon made would be purple," Killshot muttered.

"That's because that's not Decepticon made," Hook said, grabbing it from his hand. "Are you sure this is where the distress signal is coming from?" Hook asked him.

"Positive. Why?"

"Because this isn't a distress signal. It's a 'Frequencyshifter.' It changes frequencies to match other ones perfectly," hook said.

"Like a Decepticon distress signal. Frag…" Killshot said and tried to contact Swindle. All he got was static. "Dammit. Comms. are not working."

"What's wrong?" Misfire asked them.

"I think we've walked into a trap," Killshot said.

"AH!" a screamed came from the hallways.

"Frag, Scavenger!" Hook yelled, immediately running out of the room. He looked around and saw a door opened that certainly wasn't opened before. "Hold on," Hook said. He ran, hoping to Primus that he was okay. He reached the door and was about to enter when Scavenger tumble. "Frag, Scavenger what's wrong."

"D-d-dead people! Lots of them," he yelled manically. Hook looked at him odd before looking into the room.

What was inside it disturbed him greatly.

Dead bodies littered the room in various degrees of rust. Some laid on the floor while others hanged from the ceiling on hooks or wires. A few of them we strapped to tables. All of them held an expression of agony. "Oh, frag," Hook muttered under his breath. Misfire and Killshot catch up to them and took a look in the room.

"Woah," Misfire said, entering the room and looking around. "This is sick! Who keeps a collection of bodies?" Misfire asked them.

"I don't know," Killshot said, staying out of the room, "but I don't want to find out. Let's go find Swindle and get out of here."

"Hold on a sec, let me look at something," Misfire said, looking at the bodies. "There's something odd about them."

"What?" Killshot asked.

"There factions are different. This guy here is an Autobot. This one is a Decepticon. Frag, we even got a neutral right here," Misfire told him.

"Well that's great. Now can we go?" Killshot said, looking impatient.

"Hold on, I think I see a working computer," Misfire said, walking farther back onto the room. "Yep, definitely works. Let me see what going on here," Misfire told him.

"Well hurry up, Killshot said and pay attention to the two medics. "Is he alright?" he asked Hook in a worried.

"He's fine. He's just shocked. He's seen dead bodies before, but never that much. And I must admit, neither have I. There must be at least thirty in there," Hook said, a slight tone of fear entering his voice.

"Yeah, I admit that I've done some fragged up things, but never something that bad," Killshot admitted before turning his attention back to Misfire. "Hey, you've found something."

"Yeah, apparently there's some experimenting going on here. Looked like they tested something dark energon," Misfire told him.

"Dark energon?" Killshot asked.

"The blood of Unicorn, according to some churches. They were testing to see what it effects are on people. They were doing it on live bodies, mostly capture Decepticons and some neutrals. It doesn't sat anything about the results, just what they were doing. At least, that what it does for a little while. A bit after, there's this guy here who talks like a mad scientist. Talk about reanimating the dead. Hey, you want to know about this zombie movie I was in?"

"NO!" Killshot answered immediately.

"Fine," Misfire huffed. "Anyway, it just this guy rambling on about reanimating dead until it just stops. The last data log was… 7 megacycles ago. Oh, boy. That means the guy is probably still on the ship."

"Really now. So the guy responsible for this is still here?" he asked.

"Probably."

"Well then, on our way out, I'll put a bullet through his spark if I see him. This is just sick. Why the hell were the Autobots doing this? Even Shockwave doesn't do this," Killshot wondered.

"I don't know," Misfire said, stepping over the corpses back to him. "How many of these rooms have corpses in them you think?"

"I really don't want to know," Killshot said, clearly disturbed by that though. "So, how are we going to get back to Swindle. Just backtrack over to him?" he wondered.

"I don't know," Misfire said, studying the floor. "Tell me, does that energon look fresh to you," Misfire said, pointing to a small drop of energon. Killshot looked at it before kneeling down to touched it.

"It's still a liquid. Hasn't stained the floors yet," Killshot observed.

"Which means, someone's probably still alive," Misfire said.

"From the look of the way it splatters, whoever it was was heading for the end of the hall we didn't come from," Killshot said. "Question is: do we follow it?"

"I say yes," Hook said, gain a look from the other two. "Whoever did this is trying to kill us and our fellow Decepticons. If this leads us to him, I say we take it," Hook explained.

"Alright then. You're alright Scavenger?" Killshot asked the scared medic.

"Yeah," Scavenger said, getting up. "I'm good. Let's go get this sick person," Scavenger, anger seeping into his voice.

"Alright than, we hunt this guy down and regroup with Swindle as soon as we can," Killshot told the group. "Stick together, okay. I don't want to lose anybody ," Killshot told the group, before heading towards the end of the hallway with everyone following him.


	55. S1: Encounter pt 1

"This place is creepy," Skywarp muttered to the group as they walked through the hallways. Energon caked the surface of just about everything in there and certain lights kept blinking in sporadic intervals, so his statement was partially justified. They were making good time in heading for the beacon. They were three-quarters of the way there and hadn't encountered anything yet.

"Eh, I've visited worse places," Swindle replied to his comment, earning a look from him.

"Just where have you been that's more messed up than this place?" he asked him.

"I visit a lot of different worlds and have a lot of clients. A few of those places and people are really, really screwed up," Swindle answered. "We're almost there," he told everybody. "Just take a right here…" Turn right. "… and then we take two consecutive lefts…" Swindle's voice went down to a whisper as he and everyone else stopped. Someone was standing in the middle of the hallway with their head hang down and their arms at the side, hanging limply. Swindle gesture everybody to stay back as he walked towards the figure.

"Hey, you're alright," Swindle whispered to the figure, his gun aimed at it. It didn't respond to him. Swindle was getting a better look at the figure and saw several holes in him and could see some of the circuitry. Also, there was a strange purple light coming from the holes. That… wasn't supposed to happen. Swindle had almost reached him and continue pointing the gun at him. "Hey!" That got its attention.

The being turned slowly towards him. The first thing Swindle saw was that half of its face was missing, allowing a clear view into its head. The other half was intact, although the optic was hanging limply from its socket, wires barely connecting it. The strange purple light came from every orifice on its body. "What the frag…." Swindle whispered. The being roar in response and started limping towards in him with, Swindle just notice, a severally injure left leg. There was a large hole in it, showing off more circuitry that was glowing a purplish color. "Uh, okay," Swindle said, backing up from the creature, "what in the pit is that thing!"

"It appears to be alive, despite lacking functions to survive," Shockwave replied behind him.

"So you're saying that it's undead," Dead End summarized.

"Exactly," Shockwave said.

"Great, so how do we kill it!?"Swindle yelled, still backing away from the undead cybertronian. It was very slow, agonizing so.

"Shoot it," Shockwave answer. Swindle tuned to look at him for giving such a simple answered. "It is unknown why it is alive, so it is best to do something that has shown to terminate successfully. Now fire," Shockwave told him. Swindle turned back to the limping undead and aimed for the head.

_BANG_

The shot took the beings head off and sent it stumbling back. However, despite the lack of a head, it was still standing and limping towards Swindle. "Oh, come on!"Swindle said, giving a dejected look.

"Shoot it again!" Skywarp yelled.

_BANG_

The next shot took its arm off, sending it away from the undead. However, it kept coming. "Oh, fragging Primus!" Swindle yelled. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turn around to see Dead End.

"Let me," Dead End ordered.

"Be my guess. It certainly can't be worst than me," Swindle grumbled, stepping out of Dead End's way. Dead End took aim with his rifle and steady himself…

_Crack Crack Crack_

The next three shots went through the chest of the being and pierced its spark, sending the creature tumbling to the ground. The four of them looked at the creature lying on the ground, seeing if it would get back up. When it became evident that it wouldn't get back up again, the group walked towards the re-killed cybertronian. The four of them examine the corpse. "So, zombies. Wow. I can't believe they actually exist," Skywarp said, slightly surprise.

"It's not a zombie. It's a… it's a…," Dead End said, trying to come up with a answer. "Okay, I don't know what it is, but it is not a zombie."

"It is, technically, a zombie," Shockwave interrupted the two.

"You can't be serious," Dead End said, surprised.

"It was impossible for it to be alive, and yet it was. Therefore, since we like a common term to use, it is a zombie," Shockwave explained.

"Doesn't matter. We proved that we can kill them and that's the important part," Swindle cut in. "The question is, who the frag made this abomination?" Swindle asked the group.

"I have a theory on who he is. There is a scientist amongst the Autobots whose sanity is questionable and would be willing to do something like these. His name is-"

_Clang_

The group turn from the direction that they came from. It sounded close by.

_Clang _

The door. It was coming from a door behind them.

_Clang _

That was from a door in front of them.

_Clang Clang Clang_

"Uh, what's that?" Skywarp asked the group. Suddenly the door behind them gave away with a massive thud, letting a whole hoard of zombies out. And they were running.

"Run for the distress signal!" Swindle yelled and everyone started running. The group ran as hard as they could running past one of the clanging doors when

_Thud_

It came down, letting out another group of zombies that the Decepticons barely missed. The Decepticons made a quick left and kept running for the other end of the hall. The middle of the hall split left or right. They kept running, gaining some area ahead of the zombies. They were going to make.

_Thud_

A door ahead of them near the end of the hallway pop open, letting in some more zombies and blocking some more zombies. "Slag! Alright, take a left right now!" Swindle told the group. They took the turn and kept running. The zombies were still determine to rip them apart.

"Why the frag are they trying to kill us!?" Skywarp asked the group.

"I assume that they are attracted to energon," Shockwave replied, whose voice was somehow still monotone despite the giant horde of zombies chasing them.

"Then why don't they just lick the floor?!" Skywarp yelled out. "I'm sure there's enough on that to last a lifetime!"

"Right!" Swindle yelled out and the group turned right, still running from the undead.

"They're probably attracted to fresh energon. The ones on the floor are spoiled and not healthy enough for them," Shockwave summarize.

"Are you're telling me that zombies are picky eaters!?" Skywarp asked.

"Unfortunately. Either that or they just want to kill something. Both are likely"

"Left!" The group turned as one. At the end of the hallway was heavy steel doors that the zombies wouldn't able to break into. They were still out-running the zombies. They were nearing the door, their feet clanging on the floor. The zombies were still after them. They had to run, run, run….

"Open, you damn door!" Swindle yelled, pushing a button. The door grinded open slowly, much to Swindle frustration. "Faster, damn you!"

"Zombies coming!" Dead End yelled.

"Skywarp, use your missiles!" Swindle ordered.

"Gladly," Skywarp agreed and armed his missiles. He took aimed at them. "Eat this!" HE fired and the missile was sent spiraling from his arm and towards the zombies.

_BOOM_

The explosion rip through the zombies in a mixture of purple liquid and gore, Splattering the walls, floor, and ceiling. Skywarp looked over his work with a slight maniacal grin. "That was satisfying," he murmured.

"Door is open! Get in!" Swindle told the group. The group got in and Swindle pressed the button for the door to close. The clanging indicated that more zombies were coming. The door was halfway there. Zombies were crossing the corner and heading for them. Door was three-quarters of a way there. Zombie were about to reach them.

The door closed shut.

"Well, that was close," Swindle said as the zombies kept on banging on the doors, "but at least we're safe."

_Click_

"Spoke too soon," Swindle murmured, turning around to stare at the barrel of a gun.


	56. S1: Encounter PT 2

Killshot's group was tracking the fresh energon on the ground with Killshot leading in the front, Hook and Scavenger in the middle watching the sides, and Misfire watching the flank. So far, they've encounter nothing yet and some of the group was hoping it would stay that way. The group was mostly silent, except for the constant whimper Scavenger had as he aimed his rifle in just about every direction. "I swear," Killshot interrupted the silence, "if we die here, I'm staying away from Primus just long enough to rip Swindle a new one."

"Can you leave room for me," Hook asked him.

"Why, of course you can. I might need someone to help me hold him down as I rip him limb from limb," Killshot happily replied.

"Just make sure I get to rip one of those off," Hook asked. The group trudged on a little more, hoping to reach a endpoint soon.

"So," Misfire decided to interrupt the silence too, "anybody got people they care about that they'll leave behind if they die?"

"Eh, not really," Hook replied, earning Scavenger attention.

"What about me?" Scavenger asked in a kicked puppy tone.

"Eh, you're alright," Hook answered rather coldly, "but you're more than likely going to die with me, so the point is moot," he added, turning his attention towards the sniper. "And what about you, triple M. You don't seem like the kind of guy to have many friends," Hook said, trying to get a rise out of him, although he didn't get.

"I got exactly one thing I care about in this universe and that's money," Killshot replied calmly.

"Nice to know you and Swindle have similar interests," Hook replied back, once again searching for a rise. Killshot didn't replied back, keeping his optics on the trail. "I've wonder if you ever fragged someone. I know Swindle properly has," Hook said.

"Why, cause he's such a smooth talker?" Killshot asked. "Does he turned you on?" he added to his statement.

"No to both of those and how dare you think I would interface with someone as deceptive as Swindle," Hook huffed. "The reason why is cause he told me of this femme he dated called Thunderblast and-"

"Hold it," Killshot said, cutting into his sentence. "Swindle said he dated Thunderblast?" he asked.

"Yes. Why does this interest you?" Hook asked.

"Because I know Thunderblast and I can confirm that Swindle has never even met her," Killshot answered.

"You're saying Swindle lied to… I'm a idiot for believing him," Hook moaned, slapping his palm into his face.

"Nice of you to finally see the light," Killshot said, turning around a corner and abruptly stopping. "Oh, frag," he muttered.

"What?" Hook asked before turning around the corner. "Scrap."

"Uh," Scavenger asked before seeing what it is also. "Slag…"

Okay, what it is?" Misfire asked impatiently before seeing what it is as well."Sweet," Misfire said, earning their attention. "What?"

"You said 'sweet' to zombies mauling a corpse," Killshot pointed out, which was indeed what it was. About five zombies of varying size were smashing, grabbing, and tearing out circuitry from a large bulky body. Around them were the corpses of several others, looking very rusted. Probably zombies that the mauled figure killed before getting overwhelmed.

"Well, I'm sorry. This is just reminding me of this movie I was in called-"

"Not. Now," Hook growled out, emphasizing both words and shutting him up. "Question is, how do we kill them?" Hook asked.

"Just go for the spark," Misfire simply said, earning the attention of everyone. "What, it's how we killed them in the movie," Misfire replied.

"This isn't a movie. This is reality, so start treating this as that," Hook scolded him.

"Dude, _zombies_," Misfire said, putting special attention to zombies. "I think reality left when they became involve," Misfire pointed out.

"Uh, guys. I think they've notice us," Scavenger interrupted the two and pointed his fingers at the zombies, who were just now seeing them.

"Let's see if what you said works," Killshot said, taking aim with his rifle.

_Crack Crack Crack_

He fired his gun at the closest zombie and the being hit the floor almost immediately, not moving anymore. "I'll be damn," Hook muttered behind him. "That actually worked."

"Alright everybody, take aim at a zombie of your choosing and fire," Killshot told them and everyone line up taking aim at the zombies, who were moving rather slowly. Everyone took aimed…

_Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Choom Choom_

All of the zombies felled except for one, the one Misfire was suppose to kill. The three looked at his gigantic failure. "Ah, screw it. I'll just do it the old fashion way," he replied, turning his blasters back to hands and started walking towards the zombie. "Why shoot," he said, the distance between them crossed and him raising his hand, "when you can stab," he finished, sending his hand straight through the rusted out metal and out the other side, spark in hand. He ripped his arm out of the being and let it tumble unto the ground."Well that's one problem done and about 99 more to go," Misfire said.

"So exact of you," Killshot said, walking towards the corpse that the zombies were mauling.

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was a good idea," Hook said, giving him a pat on the back.

"Wow, that's new. You've always scolded me before," Misfire reacted to the pat.

"That's cause you never shut up, you're almost never works, and you're a mental nutcase, but this was a good idea and I have to admit that," Hook said, earning the ire of Scavenger, who looked just a tat jealous. Hook never gave _him_ a compliment like that.

"Hey, I think I know this guy," Killshot said to the group, earning two of their attention. The other one was still looking at them in an 'I'm so going to kill you' matter.

"And who may he be," Hook asked.

"Well it's a little hard to tell, due to all the parts of him missing, but I think this guy is Demolisher. Recognize his yellow red color pattern. I worked with him over at Dabola. Nice guy. Big fan of the Decepticon cause, but not Megatron. Absolutely hated by Lugnut, the one without a z at the end of his name," he specified. He looked around the hallway. "I don't see his partner amongst the corpses. Must still be alive around here somewhere," Killshot noticed.

"Partner?" Misfire asked.

"Cyclone. He transforms into one of those copters. Really crazy. Has pink on him for some reason I'll never understand," Killshot replied, looking around. "You would think we would hear him. He's always causing a riot."

"That's not important. Question is where do we go now? The only trail we have right now has gone cold," Hook wondered.

"Hold on. I'll see if I can contact Swindle," he said, trying to contact him. "Yo, Swindle. Can you hear me now?" Killshot asked.

"Yes, I can, now shut up," Swindle told him icily over the comms. "I'm in an important conversation right now. I'll contact you in a little while," Swindle ordered him, leaving static on the other line.

"Well?" Hook asked.

"I think Swindle found some survivors," Killshot told the group.

"So what do we do?" Misfire asked him. Killshot looked around the area.

"The place looks cleard so I said we hang out here for a little while until Swindle contacts us with some instructions," Killshot told the group. "Any objections?" he asked he grouped."Alright, let's get in position"


	57. S1: Encounter PT 3

**AN: 100,000 words. WOW! Thanks to everyone who's supported me and helping me reach this far.**

Swindle stared at the barrel of a gun, cursing himself and taking note of what gun the barrel is attached too, figuring out of how much damage it might do and how much money he could make from it. He also peer his optics around and saw that everyone else was having a gun pointing at them. Dead End and Shockwave was both showing as little emotions as possible while Skywarp was cursing very loudly. Well, it looked like they might've walked into a trap and really screwed up. The gun charging brought his attention back to the gun and looked at the figure holding the gun at him. His colors were a trifecta of green shades with some yellow around the chest and his optics were a light yellow. As soon as Swindle saw his cold smirk, he could put a name to him and he really hated him.

"Gutcruncher," Swindle growled out, drawing the name out.

"Swindle," Gutcruncher replied back smoothly. "How are you doing?" he asked him.

"Just fine, aside from the fact that I'm talking to you," Swindle replied back in disdain.

"Oh, you're not worry about the gun pointed at you?" he asked him.

"Nah, it might end my suffering a little quicker," Swindle replied back.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad," Gutcruncher said, trying to comfort him.

"Oh, please. You're me without the morals," Swindle replied back.

"You have morals?!" Skywarp snarked. "Consider me surprise."

"Shut it!" Swindle yelled at him.

"Ahem," Gutcruncher said, trying to gain the bickering 'Cons attention. "Now, look, while I enjoy having you at my mercy, I'm afraid we have bigger problems," he said, holstering his gun back and gesturing to the others to put there's up as well. "The thing is, we're stuck on a station full of whatever those things are-"

"Zombies," Shockwave interrupted. Gutcruncher looked at him, a bit stunned.

"Did he just say what I think he said," he asked.

"Yeah, he did. It's been a… _surprising _day," Dead End replied.

"Right, as I was saying, we're stuck on a ship with… zombies and we need to figure how to take care of it," Gutcruncher said. "So, any idea?"

"Wait, first off, where are we?" Swindle asked him.

"We're on the bridge of the station. The cockpit is right over there," he said, pointing to his right.

"Why don't we just fly the ship towards the nearest planet. That'll kill most of them," Dead End suggested.

"No go. That'll destroy basically everything worthwhile here, making this trip a absolute waste of time," Gutcruncher disagreed. "Besides, the nearest thing you can crash it into would take this thing over a thousand joors to reach. That would be far too long for any of us," he reasoned.

"Alright, so what do we do?" Swindle asked. The room was silent at that, trying to think of idea.

"A question," Shockwave wanted to question Gutcruncher.

"Shoot," Gutcruncher said, giving the go ahead.

"Where is your ship?" Shockwave asked. "We didn't see it on the outside as we connected to the ship.

"In the hanger," he complied. "Small ships like mine can fit in there with ease," he explained.

"And how did you enter the base?" Shockwave pressed him for more information.

"The hanger has a giant door that opens to allows ships to enter and a force field is use that allow ships to enter, but doesn't send everyone out to space when it opens," he complied again. "Just where are you going with this?"

"Swindle, I believe if could lure the zombies to the hanger, we could deactivate the force field and eject the zombies out of the ship," Shockwave informed him.

"Great, now I got another question for Gutcruncher. What the frag brought you here?" he asked him.

"It's an Autobot space station. There's bound to be many things here which could be sell for a lot of money. Why else do you think I would be here?" he told the Decepticon.

"Well, since we're helping you, I figure I could take some of the cut," Swindle informed him.

"Oh really? And just how much do you want?" he asked.

"50%" Swindle told him.

"Ouch," Gutcruncher replied, imitating getting hurt. "I see why they call you Swindle. How about 10%?" he coaxed him.

"Uh, no. How about 45%?" Swindle asked.

"15%," Gutcruncher stated.

"40%," Swindle coerced.

"20%."

"35%."

"I'm sticking to 20%."

"Yo, Swindle. Can you hear me now?" Killshot interrupted on Swindle's comm. link. Swindle gestured to Gutcruncher to hold on a moment.

"Yes, I can, now shut up," Swindle told him icily over the comms. "I'm in an important conversation right now. I'll contact you in a little while," Swindle ordered him, leaving static on the other line and returned back to the conversation. "Alright, listen up. 30%. That's as low as I'm going, understand?"

"And why should I take that?" Gutcruncher asked.

"Because, Skywarp can teleport me and my group out of here and leave you here stranded to try and get rid of the zombies yourself. Now, 30% of your profits are a suitable expenditure for helping you rid the zombies, isn't it?" he asked. He could see Gutcruncher optics grow just a little more hostile. Obvious, he had put him in a bind.

"Fine," he conceded. "Now, how are we going to get the zombies to the hanger?" he asked.

"Let me think that through," he said, getting back to Killshot. "Hey, you're still there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here. I tried to contact you earlier, but something was blocking my signal. So, what's up?" he asked.

"Have you ran into any -I hate to say this word- zombies?" he questioned.

"Yeah, a few. They were a bit busy disassembling a Decepticon, called Demolisher, that got overwhelmed. We killed them, but it was too late to save him," Killshot informed him. "Cyclone is going to be a little sad, if I do say so myself. Swindle looked at Gutcruncher's men. Two of them were just regular grounder, arguing with each other about who had the better name. One was a solid orange with black highlights and yellow optics. The other was a light shade of gray with some spikes around his shoulders and a single one on his fore head along with solid white optics. The only other soldier was a helicopter with a oddly colorful mixture of gold, purple, white, and pink and his rotors looked like blades on his arm. He was currently pestering Skywarp and there was a certain mischievous glint in his green optics.

"Exactly what does Cyclone look like?" he asked.

"He's a helicopter and you probably won't forget him when you see him. He has a very flashy mixture of gold, white, purple, and-"

"Pink with green optics?" Swindle asked.

"Uh, yeah. Exactly. He's with you right now, is he?" Killshot asked.

"Yep."

"Oh, well go gently will you. He can be pretty sensitive about things," he warned him.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, Cyclone!" he shouted. The helicopter dug himself from his 'conversation' with Skywarp. "What?!" he asked.

"Demolisher dead, just saying," Swindle informed him flatly.

"What?" Cyclone asked, a bit confused. Swindle ignored him and went back to his conversation.

"He's been informed of his lost. I think I was very gentle with him," Swindle said, almost sounding sincere. Almost.

"Yeah, definitely," Killshot replied sardonically.

"Listen. We got a way to get rid of the zombies. We just need to get them to the hanger and deactivate the force field. That'll send the zombies out of the ship. The question is, how do we lure them in there?" he wondered.

"Well, from what've I saw, these guys react to sound. Just create a lot of noise in the hanger and that'll lure them there," advised him.

"Okay, great. Now, what do we use?" Swindle asked.

"Uh, hold on. Hey, Hook?" he asked, leaving Swindle alone. "Is there possibly a way to use that frequencyshifter to lure zombies somewhere?" A few seconds of silence. "Really? How?" More silence. "Neat. Alright Swindle, we got a plan to lure them there. We just have to get there, which shouldn't be much of a problem," he informed him.

"Alright, get there quickly. I'm sending Skywarp there to scout the area for you. I'll inform you when to use it," Swindle informed him.

"Understand. Killshot out." The comm. went to static, leaving Swindle alone. Swindle turned backed to Gutcruncher. "So, where on the bridge can we turned the force field off?" he asked.

"Not here," Gutcruncher informed him.

"Come again?" Swindle replied back, a little confused.

"We have to turn them off at the security office," Gutcruncher told him.

"Oh, come on! Can't things just be easy this one time?" Swindle complained before pulling up his map and quickly locating. "Alright, it's not that far. Unfortunately, the zombies are blocking the only way out," Swindle complained.

"You could take the vents," Gutcruncher informed him.

"Vents?" Swindle asked.

"Here, let me show you," Gutcruncher said, climbing atop a desk and slide a certain panel aside. "There. Zombies aren't smart enough to use the vents so you can use them to reach the security office safely," he informed him.

"Alright. Hey Skywarp!" he yelled for his seeker.

"What?" he asked, thankful for something that would take his mind off Cyclone having a breakdown.

"Teleport to the hanger and scout the area. Gutcruncher will show you a map to teleport you there," he ordered him.

"Got it."

"Dead End, you're with me along with the two arguing like no tomorrow," Swindle said. "I can use them, right?" Swindle asked Gutcruncher.

"Go ahead. I see no point of them being here when they could go shoot something with you and be useful," he informed him.

"Alright, uh… what's their names?" he asked him.

"Sinnertwin and Slayride," he informed him.

"Sweet names," Swindle commented. "Alright, Sinnertwin and Slayride, you two are with me and Dead End." The two looked towards Swindle and started walking towards him, while still arguing who had the better name. "Shockwave," he said, walking up to him and talking in hushed tones, "stay here and helped Gutcruncher out with anything he needs and consult with Cyclone about the fate of his partner. I know it's hard for you to do that, but I trust you can do it," Swindle told him.

"I find your trust in me… illogical," he replied back to Swindle.

"Yeah, whatever. Alright you three," he yelled out to Dead End, Slayride, and Sinnertwin, "time to go get rid of some zombies."


	58. S1: Float pt 1

Killshot's group was making their way through the halls to the hanger, killing any zombies they run into on the way. Killshot and Hook were leading from the front while Scavenger and Misfire stayed behind them to finish any that wasn't completely dead and to make sure that they didn't get flank. It was a good system and they were making good progress, being 3/4th of the way to the hanger using the quickest route the map provided. The zombies were sparsely populated so far and they were having an easy time mowing through them. "How much longer?" Hook asked Killshot.

"We take a left here, follow by-" _Crack!_ "-a right," Killshot answered the question, as they took the left. Hook gave a nod at that and kept firing at any zombie he saw. "Are you sure the Frequencyshifter will work?" Killshot questioned him.

"Positive. All you got to do is change the frequency to something hearable and make it loud enough for all the zombies to hear-"

"Which will draw all of them to the hanger, but what makes you think-" _Crack!_ A zombie came around the corner, running, to kill them, but it took a shot to the spark before it could get close. "that they are attracted by sound?" he asked.

"The zombie that you just shot came running around the corner for us. Obviously, he heard the gun and came for us," Hook told him.

"Ah, makes since," Killshot agreed.

"Well, I am smarter than you," Hook bragged.

"And your paint job is horrible," Killshot countered as the turned right around the corner. At the end of the zombie-free hall was the door to the hanger. "Alright everybody, pick it up! Hanger is straight ahead!" he yelled out to them as they picked up the pace. The four quickly cover the distance without any incidence and pressed the button to open the door, letting it swoosh open. "Get in!" he shouted to everybody, which they did swiftly. He followed suit and close the door around them. With that done, he looked around the hanger.

It was a big place, colored a normal white. There were ships laying around the place, taking up space. Some of them were small and others almost reached the ceiling 5 stories up. And right on top of the tallest one…

"What's up?" … was Skywarp.

"Why the frag are you here?" Killshot asked a little angrily.

"Geez, no need to be rude," Skywarp muttered. "Anyway, Swindle told me to come here and do some recon, make sure the hanger was safe for you guys," Skywarp answered.

"I'm guessing Swindle concentrating on getting that barrier down," he said, pointing to the near transparent barrier.

"You got it," Skywarp answered, "so we should set up. I talked to Gutcruncher before we left and-"

"Gutcruncher?" Misfire interrupted.

"Some guy who's helping us. Anyway, as I was saying, Gutcruncher said we could use his ship," he said, stomping his foot to indicate the ship they would use, "to hide in once the barriers go down. Ships are clamp to the floor, so they won't be sucked out," Skywarp told the group.

"Alright, sounds simple enough," Killshot agreed.

"Good, now how are we going to attract them? Swindle didn't tell me."

* * *

Swindle crawled through the tight vents (for him), looking at his maps of the vents in one hand and his Scatterblaster in the other. The less bulky trio behind him had no problem with the vents and we're crawling through just fine. "I hate this idea," Swindle murmured, although everybody easily heard it.

"Claustrophobic?" Dead End asked.

"A little bit, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the vents are so small, I can barely crawl through this damn thing," Swindle responded angrily.

"Yes, you are a bit bulky, despite you're short stature," Dead End agreed behind him.

"Tell me about it. You know what my nickname around some circles was?" Swindle asked him.

"Knowing how uncreative we can be, I'm guessing shorty," Dead End answered.

"Exactly, and it's even worse when it comes from people that are shorter than you. 'Hey, I'm at least a head taller than you, smartaft, so keep your mouth shut.' Honestly, it pisses me off." Swindle complained.

"I can't help but notice you speak in the past tense," Dead End said, trying to figure out why everyone stopped calling him that.

"After Brawl die, I became a little more… _angry_. Not long after he died, somebody called me shorty again. After that remark, I lost it. I caved his face in by punching it repeatedly and then ripping his spark-chamber out with my bear hands," Swindle told him. "Nobody called me shorty after that," he added.

"Damn," Dead End replied, a little surprise. "Isn't that a little disproportionate."

"Maybe, but my whole gestalt freaked out when he died, especially Vortex and Onslaught." Swindle stopped and craned –or try to- his head to Dead End. "How about what happen to you after Motormaster died?"

"I didn't do anything," Dead End answered coldly.

"Really?" Swindle asked, surprised, as he turned his head forward and kept crawling.

"Yes," Dead End confirmed.

"Wow, you're cold. Even Blast Off reacted to Brawl's death," Swindle told him, suspicious of his claim. He stopped again, suddenly. "We're here," Swindle told them.

"Finally!" Slayride yelled behind them. "Hearing you two talked was boring me," he complained.

"Why don't you complain to Sinnertwin how your name is better than his?" Swindle asked behind him.

"I would, but the stupid bipolar idiot is keeping his mouth shut, isn't that right?" he asked Sinnertwin behind him. The quiet-for-now mech didn't answer him. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah, anyway," Swindle said, lifting the panel into the security office, "let's get out of here". He stuck his head out of the vent to see the control room. Inside the red color room, zombies shambled about, not noticing the peeping tom staring at them. All told, there were around 15 of them in the room, ready to eviscerate any unfortunate soul who tried to come in there. Swindle stuck his gun out and aimed at the nearest one, getting ready to shoot.

_Creak!_

What was that? Swindle took his attention to look around for the source of that sound.

_Creak!_

Swindle looked at the vent closely. He saw it dipping, looking ready to break under their weight. "Uh, guys? Brace yourself and get ready to fire!" he told the others. The others had no idea what he was talking but immediately braced themselves as Swindle pulled himself back in.

That's when the vent broke.


	59. S1: Float pt 2

"There's no way Demolisher would die that easily. I mean, it's Demolisher! He can turn into a fraggin' tank!" Shockwave really regretted having to stay here and try to consul the helicopter.

"Strength and weaponry can't stop anyone from being overwhelmed by sheer numbers in tight spaces," Shockwave told him, trying to rationalize it for him. Although, looking at him and how he acted, logical answers might not be the best choice.

"Yes, but the thing is that he can turn into a _tank_!" Cyclone repeated at the emotionally challenged scientist.

"But that won't stop him from being overwhelm from superior numbers," Shockwave repeated.

"Yeah, maybe, but… TANK!" Cyclone continued to yell out, arms flailing.

"Yes and I can assure you that he more than likely took many of the zombies with him before he perish," Shockwave tried to assured him. Cyclone lowered his head before responding, in a slightly broken voice:

"He should've killed them all. He shouldn't have died."

"And he will be remember for all he has given for the Decepticons," Shockwave assured him.

"Nah, he won't. Only the big names do, like you, Shockblast," Cyclone said, dejectedly.

"Shockwave," he corrected him.

"Whatever," Cyclone muttered before walking away from him. Shockwave watched him go to a wall and sat down with his back to it. Shockwave watched him for a few seconds before heading to where Gutcruncher was, who was currently crouched down, working on the inside of a console.

"Hello, Shockwave," he greeted, hearing his footsteps. "Look, don't mind Cyclone. He'll get over Demolisher's death," Gutcruncher told him.

"Whether he finds solace matters little to me," Shockwave told him.

"Of course it doesn't, so why are you bothering me," Gutcruncher said, getting straight to the point.

"I am just wondering what you're doing," Shockwave told him.

"I'm trying to figure out why the consoles don't work," Gutcruncher explained to him. "Speaking of, I think I found the reason," he said, pulling out two wires of the same color. Both of them had a end to them that looked neatly cut. "Zombies didn't snap these, a living person did."

"A mystery," Shockwave said.

"You got that right. I'll see if I can connect the wires back together," Gutcruncher said, turning his finger in a blowtorch and getting to work. "Used to be an engineer before I started working in business," he explained. "So, what do you think cause this?" he asked as he got to work.

"I don't know how this happen, but I can gather a guess on who did it," Shockwave said.

"Who?" he asked.

"An Autobot scientist by the name of Flames," Shockwave said.

"Wait, Flames?" he asked, stopping his repairs.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Hold on, I saw a ship manifest here earlier," he said, heading to the cockpit. "Found it!" he yelled out, bringing a datapad from the cockpit. "According to this datapad, he was a member of the crew on this ship," he said handing it to Shockwave. Shockwave took it with his good hand and looked at it.

"Continue with your repairs," he told him.

"Sure," he said, heading back to the console. Shockwave placed the datapad on top of the console and skim through it. It confirmed that Flames was a member of the ship's crew along with the fact that they were storing dark energon here. Where they got it from, it didn't specified, but Shockwave figured someone must've had a copy of its place of origin.

"Got it," Gutcruncher said, standing back up and looking at the screen. "Looks like security camera console," he observed, trying to switch between the rooms, but not having any effect. "Or not."

"They already have a security office. Why would they need this?" Shockwave observed. Cyclone was also coming over to see what's going on.

"I think it's to observed the people in the security office, to make sure that they don't betray them," Gutcruncher hypothesize. "Apparently, they can be just as paranoid as us."

"Is that Swindle poking his head out from the vent," Cyclone asked. Gutcruncher looked at the vent.

"Oh yeah, that's him alright," Gutcruncher muttered. "Looks like he found the right way."

"He should not be using that," Shockwave told the two.

"Why?" Gutcruncher asked.

"According to the manifest, there's a request to fix the vent there. According to them, it's rusted and would break under too much pressure," Shockwave explained.

"Ah, yes. A shame," Gutcruncher said, sounding just a little smug. Shockwave glared at him.

"You knew, didn't you?" Shockwave asked in what could almost be considered a threatening tone.

"Maybe, but I would hold off on using your gun for the moment," he coaxed.

"But, our guys are with them," Cyclone said, confused.

"Look, we needed to get to the security office. The vents were the only way to get there. Telling Swindle about the rusted vents would have convinced him not to go and we would be stuck, Gutcruncher explained. "If he just so happen to die because of them, that's just a bonus," Gutcruncher added just a little smugly. "Oh, they just crashed to the floor." Shockwave took his glared off him to look at the screen. Indeed, Swindle's group had just crashed and was already firing their weapons into the zombies.

"Why should I not terminate you right now?" Shockwave asked.

"Oh, there are many reasons. Which one do you want to hear?" he asked him with a little smirk and a cock of the head.

"The one that convinces me not to terminate you," Shockwave asked. His expression deaden.

"Well, for starters, you don't like him," Gutcruncher said.

"He's useful," Shockwave said.

"So you don't like him?" he asked again.

"He has information," Shockwave said, trying to dodge the question.

"And I must repeat again, you don't like him, correct?" he asked. Shockwave just continue to glared at him. "I'll take that as a yes, which leads me to my next question, why are you with him?" he asked him.

"He has information that I need," Shockwave told him.

"Well than, why don't you just use a cortical psychic patch?" he asked.

"He keeps one in his room, away from me and probably heavily secure," Shockwave explained to him.

"Well than, how would you feel about having one he doesn't know about?" he asked, giving the smuggest smirk he could muster. Shockwave thought this through, trying to think of all of this. On one hand, he has proven to betray someone at a moment's noticed. On the other hand, a psychic patch he could use and keep hidden from Swindle…

"You argument… is logical," he finally said, putting his gun aside.


End file.
